Colliding Futures
by Trixie The Fox
Summary: Sequel to "Trixie's Stories" These two futures have been separated from each other, put in separate dimensions to avoid time imploding on itself, but what happens when each, have to combine with each other? And is there a way of reversing the effect?
1. Chapter 1: Future 1

Colliding Futures

Colliding Futures

Prolog: Marty, a son of one of the freedom fighters was once assigned on an important and risky mission, to change the past but in succeeding the future was changed.

Because of this time had to save itself, it did this by separating each future, the one that Marty grew up in and the one that he created.

Future 1: This future was before Marty had changed it, a vile unhappy world where Blake finally succeeds in total dominance, hope is only kept alive by the freedom fighters:

Sonic: The leader of the freedom fighters, and plan master, he was put in charge because no matter what the enemy tried he could not be caught, his speed gave him not only an advantage over the enemy but allowed him to find bases and other areas of operations with only a blue streak being seen.

Rex: Who was once on the enemy's side but turned after marrying "Jewels" finally, he is the hand-to-hand combat expert and is mainly in charge of training newcomers.

Flame: The head of sector V, a big sector in the freedom fighter's base of operations. He is one of the strongest leaders and is in charge of big missions, mostly search and rescue.

Knuckles: After loosing the task of guardian of the Master Emerald he used his time mostly on distractions for the freedom fighters, many of the freedom fighters think him to be very eccentric after loosing his task, after what happened to the Master Emerald he did gain a big chip on his shoulder, even so he continues to fight against Blake.

Eggman: Tactical genus and head of the defense unit, forced to fight alongside his worst enemies, he plans on double-crossing them when the war is over but as of now he works with Sonic and the others against Blake's reign.

Marty: Rex's son and fellow freedom fighter, despite is age he was assigned on a mission to change the past, so that Blake would never gain control.

Blake in this future is very distant from everything, most consider him mad, he lost his mind to his selfish lust for power and since then he's tried taking out every person on the planet, Tai was forced to work under him and Spike also lost himself, fighting needlessly for control he could never have do to his father's rule as well as spending his days trying to avoid being spotted by Blake's troops.

Also Shadow the hedgehog joined up with Blake, nobody knows why but they assume Blake made him a promise he never intends on keeping.

Future 2: The changed future, Blake was taken and sealed in suspended animation to never return, while Trixie and Ken were reunited at last and were married soon afterwards.

Power and Spike gave up on their past goal and decided it was wrong to make others suffer for their own gain, and Tai dedicated his life to making sure Blake can never escape again, ever watching where he was sealed.

However in this future there is still a presence looming over them, Anna was never truly silenced and still proved a threat to them, as well as Doctor Eggman now seeing the opportunity to grow stronger with his own empire, and Shadow the hedgehog's helping him and with his abilities it makes the threat twice as imminent.

These two futures have been separated from each other, put in separate dimensions to avoid time imploding on itself, but what happens when each, have to combine with each other? And is there a way of reversing the effect?

Chapter 1: Future 1

A loud breath and a quick paced heart beat, the tension was unbearable.

Sonic the hedgehog ran by quickly looking back to see the approaching robots. "How do they keep finding me?"

The hallway was dark with little lighting other then the swinging light bulb, his blue streak reflected against the metal polished walls.

His eyes ever focused with determination overridden in his step.

He smashed through the wall in his way; metal flying like a rock had run through glass, his quills moved up and down among the wind of the outside area.

Sonic the hedgehog's attackers started to get further away and started to get out of focus from eyesight, his speed immediately took him out of danger's way.

Despite being able to outrun the robots he would rather have faced them; but his mission did not need publicity.

The robots were shaped differently, almost like hedgehogs but without the quills and with black and red markings on them.

Anyway it didn't matter now, they were long behind him.

In his hand was a glowing gold ring, he smirked.

"Knew one of these babies were hidden in there." Sonic thought. "If these do what they're supposed to, the freedom fighters will have a new trick up their sleeve."

The gold ring sparkled feeling almost like a chaos emerald but not as powerful, Sonic felt adrenaline whenever holding one.

The hedgehog continued on his way leaving the blue blurred image across the barren land, the faster he ran the harder it was to see him.

He stopped quickly a few moments later, keeping the ring in his hand and was searching for something.

Out popped the figure of a hedgehog, her eyes glittered seeing Sonic there.

"SONIC!!" she shouted in anticipation.

Sonic looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost. "Amy?"

The girl immediately grabbed Sonic's hands dancing with happiness until Sonic calmed her down.

"Amy how did you get out?" Sonic questioned with a half smile, looking pleased to see her.

Amy suddenly looked annoyed, she ruffled her red dress. "Sonic why didn't you break me out!"

Sonic screeched from her angry response and stammered a little. "Errr I-I would have Amy but I didn't know where they were keeping you."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Well I got out all the same, did you miss me?"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, sure Amy."

Amy smiled. "You won't believe how I got out."

The pink hedgehog changed her direction pointing somebody out, a red echidna stood leaned against the side of a tree.

"Knuckles?" Sonic said with a surprised sound to his voice.

The echidna snorted. "What about it?"

"You actually broke Amy out of the nut house?" Sonic said.

"I'm not really crazy Sonic! They locked me away because I insisted you existed! That empire wants to be sure nobody knows about you." Amy said bluntly. "So in a way, I got in there because of you."

Sonic laughed nervously. "Yeah heh, funny how things turn out."

Knuckles smiled with his eyes closed and turned on his way; he looked back one time waving his hand. "Later."

"Soooooo, Sonic what's been happening without me?" Amy asked with an interested expression. "Are the freedom fighters still having trouble finding Blake's bases?"

Sonic shushed her. "Don't mention the freedom fighters Amy, not out in the open." Sonic said. "We'll talk when we get there."

Sonic backed up ready to run, Amy stood in the way. "Sonic with the way you run it'd take me weeks to find you again."

Sonic chuckled. "Ok Amy, hold on."

The hedgehog grabbed her wrist sweeping her away with a whisk of blue lightning.

Sonic's gold power ring glowing brightly in his other hand.

End chapter


	2. Chapter 2: Future 2

Chapter 2: Future 2

Chapter 2: Future 2

The eyes of the young hedgehog opened slowly, vision dimly looking.

Everything started fuzzy and when he could see he felt his jaw breeched by a fist toughly.

A broken down house at his feet he could see when his eyes opened again.

A broken chair at the fallen support pillars; everything was burning, dust and ash clouding the air.

Marty rubbed his eyes and felt a choking breath when he saw who struck him.

A hedgehog stood there jeering at him.

"You fool!" he shouted.

Marty quivered. "Did you just punch me? W-why am I not dead? He took down the house and…and I was still inside…am I dead…? Did you kill me…?"

The hedgehog scuffed. "You really have no idea do you?"

The hedgehog was cloaked so you couldn't see who it was, only his quills could be seen.

Marty didn't understand what he was trying to imply.

"This is all your fault you fool." He said.

Marty looked up, wiping the blood off his jaw and looking over his wounds. "Why is it my fault Blake tried to kill me?"

The hedgehog grunted angry.

Marty blinked feeling the pressure and fast pace of his heart.

The hedgehog watched the flames and sparks flicker as the house was alit with flames, Rex's worn picture at Marty's side.

"You were supposed to change the future…but you've made everything a whole lot worse…" The hedgehog said.

"What are you talking about?!" Marty objected.

The hedgehog stood there silent…something was wrong; the hedgehog's lip quivered as he fell to his knees.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this…" he said.

Marty didn't know what to say…He stood up grunting from his wounds.

A fire reflected in the hedgehog's eyes as tears ran down his face despair covering him.

Marty was still trying to make sense of this; the last time he was awake Blake struck him and let a house fall on him.

Marty had not known about Blake's final act, after leaving Marty he took the life of Melody and was suspended in animation by Tai.

"You did this." he said looking back at Marty with hateful eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Marty said grunting from the pain he was in. "Who are you?"

The hedgehog got on his feet and slapped him. "Stop asking stupid questions, do you not care what you've done to the future and past?"

He took a deep breath with the teary sound still in his voice. "Your interference in the future has disrupted the fabric of time itself, unraveling it, changing it."

Marty shivered, the flames still burning but slowly dying down.

The hedgehog's voice was tender as he spoke.

"You need to fix the mess you started." He said.

"I don't understand you." Marty said. "What are you trying to say? The past eliminated the future?"

"No, but it could have, instead two were separated, two different versions both having calamities because of your interference!" he screeched sharp tongued. "Everyone could die in either future depending on how time rebuilds itself."

Marty's eyes widened…the faces of everyone he left behind…he tried telling himself that he wasn't right.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

Tears were still running down the hedgehog's face, feeling the weight of the world.

The hedgehog turned to face Marty but was obviously not going to answer the question; in fact he made very sure his hood was properly festooned.

He did catch his eyes though…there was a deepness in them as if he'd witnessed all of time itself, a knowledge above any person's mind, his red eyes were not angry but…overwhelmed by something, like stories were never written left to stay locked in his mind.

"Because the future separated the future you are from and the future you created in saving Tails' life, we have a problem that surpasses any you've seen or heard of." said the hedgehog.

"Tails? Are you saying because I had stopped Tails from dying and Sonic from turning into Dark Sonic that…that time clashed with itself?" Marty asked.

"Yes…that is exactly what I am saying." The hedgehog said. "Were you not paying attention?! I am here to see to it you fix what you have broken."

Marty couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It's not my fault time travel was possible, Tails' workshop! It's his fault for toying with the idea and Blake for finding them." Marty said.

"I have watched what happened first-hand, jumping from place to place against my will from time's confusion on where to put me. You have single-handedly destroyed a piece of time itself." The hedgehog said.

"How do I know you're not lying?!" Marty said. "You're saying some pretty unbelievable things."

The hedgehog stepped close to him, looking sincere.

"Boy, this world will end when time collides, all that you know…is about to come to an end…don't simplify the situation with questions." He said.

End chapter


	3. Chapter 3: Future 1

Chapter 3: Future 1

Chapter 3: Future 1

A captain sat at a table, going over papers.

There were people at his door guarding it but it seemed obvious he didn't want them there.

He wore a cameo uniform bearing a scar across his arm.

He slammed his hand on the table. "Will you leave me alone, I don't need guarded!"

"But sir? I was told to stand post here." One of the guards said.

"And I am saying to leave." He said commandingly.

"Sir I apologize but the king asked me himself." The guard argued.

"I don't care! The only reason you're here is to annoy me, he's insulting me by having people protect me, he's punishing me, so you leave or I'll force you to." The captain said pulling out two bluish duel blades, pushing them in view. "Don't make me insist."

Immediately the guards scattered, leaving the building.

Tai looked displeased. "The nerve! How DARE he! I may serve under him but I'm not a footstool! He thinks he can just disrespect me like that!" he said throwing the table down breathing angrily.

A little while as he slowly gathered up the papers sadly, he turned the table upright.

Seeing as he was still obligated to Blake's servos he did not want to disgrace him in return.

Tai continued with his work, going over maps and areas and perimeters controlled and areas that there could be possible freedom fighter bases of operations.

He used to be able to go over strategies with Blake but now he only assigned him over the perimeters they were in control over and when he was given a mission.

But work was a lot less hard, in a way of telling Tai he's not to be trusted for such things.

When he was finally finished, his guards returned.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?!" Tai shouted demandingly.

"Sir please forgive me; but we've captured a renegade." The guard said.

"What?!" Tai said standing up with haste in his voice.

The guard turned his head moving two fingers; telling the other guard to come in.

A hedgehog was being dragged in, blood was rushing down his cheek and his lips were chafed he was also scarred all over; he'd been beaten by the guards and struck at and worse.

The hedgehog was breathing slowly; his eyes were staying open only by his will power.

The other guard put his hand under his shoulder to hold him up.

"Show more respect filth!" another guard said giving him a smack.

The hedgehog continued to breathe without a word.

Tai stood up in amazement. "Well well, I never expected to see you come through these doors, did your Master turn you away so soon? The king is wrong about a lot of things in my eyes, but not concerning you."

The hedgehog was wearing a pair of broken goggles, one of the lenses looked like they'd been shot through.

His quills were pointed down with brown stripes, he was wearing a plate of metal on his elbow looking like it was used to keep bullets away as there were dents in it like he'd been shot there before.

He had two patches of black around his eyes and his fur was rough and as of now it was scarred with red streaks and wounds.

It was Power; the guards did a number on him when capturing him as he was in pretty bad shape, however the bullet dents were there before then.

He had this different look in his eye, Tai was more short tempered now and Power's distaste for him was not helping his chances any.

"At least my Master set me free instead of dangling me on a leash, CAPTAIN Tai." Power spoke emphasizing the fact Tai was demoted.

"Let him go." Tai said.

And the guards obeyed, pushing the hedgehog down to hold his own weight laying there on the floor because he was too wounded to stand.

He didn't take his eyes of Tai though.

"My men have been looking for your commander a long time Power; you could save us all a lot of time by telling me where he is. I give you my word you will not be harmed nearly as much." Tai said as if he were giving him a get out of jail free card.

"Why? You'll just shoot me when I tell you." Power said.

"Who do you think I am?! Am I so heartless to completely dismiss my word? If I give you my word on something, I keep it! Would I dare compromise my honor for you or anybody else?!" Tai said insulted.

"Your 'honor' is what Blake calls your leash!" Power said angrily.

Tai wanted very badly to draw his swords at the moment; he still believed that Honor was possible under Blake.

Power moved his hand in front on him, trying to sit up.

Both of them were older now, they'd gotten a lot of history behind them whether good or bad.

"Listen Power, I was demoted and because of that fact my job is a lot more blue-collar, I don't have the luxury of having somebody else come in and force you into giving me the information." Tai said almost sounding concerned. "I'm not evil at heart, I truthfully don't like hurting anybody and I wish so much to not have to stay in this line of work but I have no choice in this matter."

"And if you don't want to go through the routine of my dunking your head under water until you want air so bad you'll give me the information or force me to burn your hand with a blowtorch or anything like that PLEASE if you have any decency tell me, I'm going to get the information one way or another, if Blake sees any weakness in me he'll have me in your position so you know I'm motivated and will do what I have to, I am obligated to try getting the information out of renegades even if it kills you OR me to get it, now save us both the trouble…and tell me where Spike is." Tai said sincerely.

A few silent moments passed as Tai waited for the war weary hedgehog to answer him.

Power knew he would eventually be forced into telling Tai and he also knew Tai would do whatever is necessary in getting the info.

There was no way out of this situation…but at least Tai was one to keep his word.

Tai was more experienced and was a lot more lenient most of the time but when it came to the big jobs that Blake would personally make sure was taken care of, he did everything by the book.

His eyes lowered. "Blue Creek…he was at blue creek the last time I saw him..."

Tai looked relieved. "You'd better be telling the truth, because if you lied I'll hand you over to the king personally; but I am a man of my word, take him away."

The end of the sentence was a commend to the soldiers and they again obeyed.

"Make sure he's treated well, he's a man following orders as I am and I understand his dilemma, no more beatings or you'll deal with me." Tai said. "After that clean up this mess."

End chapter


	4. Chapter 4: Future 2

Chapter 4: Future 2

Chapter 4: Future 2

A twenty-five year old fox walked through the forest admiring its beauty.

The days were calmer now and the breeze had a quiet but comforting feel to it.

"Flame?" a girl asked.

The fox's expression quickly changed.

"Angie, it's nice to see you again." Flame said with a smile.

Flame looked a lot the same but he was older and his arms were stronger; it was clear he'd gained strength.

Angie however changed a lot, her glowing spots were ever changing with the colors of the chaos emeralds and the side of her face was a vivid blue along with her hand; haven had the battle with the ML bots they were permanently left glowing blue leaving the shape of the side of her face and her hand of chaos energy.

"How's your eye been?" Flame asked with a concerned tone.

"Oh fine, despite the energy blur on the side of my face I'd say I've been normal." said Angie. "If there's such a thing."

She laughed at the end of the sentence; you could tell she'd matured a lot more over time as she was more confident and more relaxed.

Flame had a wise look to him but he still kept his cocky behavior and let it out once or twice.

Angie's belt continued to glow green along with her spots.

"Have you seen Alex around anywhere?" she asked. "He was supposed to be back by now."

"Oh the mysterious Alex, no haven't sorry, hey I heard you've got a little girl now is that right?" Flame asked.

"Yeah but I'll tell you, she's tried to burn the house down three times, I think I'm in over my head." Angie said.

"Heh, I know the feeling." Flame laughed. "I mean the whole burning thing."

"Oh gosh didn't even think of that." Angie joined in laughing. "Yeah but seriously I have NO IDEA how to handle her, she's got this spark in her that makes her want to, well, cause havoc."

"I'm sure you can calm her down over time, I mean when you look at how you started out." said Flame. "No offence of course, I'm just saying, you came a long way."

"Well you see…you remember the Anna who came back to ruin the future when we were kids? The thought of her turning into 'That' scares me to death." she said.

"Oh don't worry that future was changed, I'm sure she'll be fine." he said.

"I sure hope so, so have you found Tim yet?" she asked then feeling a little like she shouldn't have asked.

"No…I've been looking for him for a long time now…eleven years since I saw him…I'm not going to stop looking for him." said Flame then changing the subject. "Trixie and Ken have been doing well lately I hear tell, I still can't believe the stories they tell me."

"Well believe me I was surprised to hear he was alive too, I was relieved when I found out, since I kind of blamed myself for what happened to him." said Angie.

"Ah you were just a teenager; we all did some crazy things growing up." Flame smiled again. "Besides you were confused."

"Well anyway, it's nice to see you again, stop by some time." said Angie already on her way. "See you later."

"Bye." Flame waved as she left.

As Flame continued on his way he did take the subject of 'the future' with him, he never really understood that catastrophe in the first place and it sounded a little crazy to him.

In fact during that time he was with Tai, pretty distant while the others saw what happened first hand.

"I wonder what happened to Tai anyway." Flame wondered.

At this moment, Tai stood in the base of his former commander; the dedicated hedgehog sat there listening to the peaceful quiet.

The base was old and rundown but Tai managed to keep his living area manageable, deep imbedded in a secret room a presence loomed over.

Tai's new task was keeping Blake in suspended animation and to be sure he would not die in such a state, it was a way of making up for Blake sparing his life when he was younger.

Still it felt creepy to think if Blake had the strength he'd return again, the same thing happened with Shadow after space colony ark and he came to with no problems but Blake was much different from Shadow.

Tai couldn't find the courage to kill him even after the evil and devastation he alone set upon this planet, years and years of doing his bidding and Tai was ashamed to have been a part of it.

Still, Blake DID spare his life, so he knew there was an ounce of compassion in his dark mind, and he did train him.

He took the time even when throwing an empire about to create a trust with Tai and a tiny bit of loyalty still remained in his heart, of a lesser evil Commander.

There was a glow under the door of Blake's room, almost ready to leap out at you.

Tai's eye darted to the door. "I'd better make sure he's still there."

He moved his chair from his side and turned the doorknob slowly.

The area was dark and the only thing in it was Blake's chamber and that weird glow coming from it.

At the head of the chamber was a chaos emerald, Tai checked it.

"Glad to know the emerald's still secure, he couldn't live without its energy." Tai thought to himself.

Tai felt shivers run down his spine; Blake's look was not of one asleep.

Blake's eyes were closed with contempt and anger and his fists were clanged and his eyes pressed into themselves as if he were glaring at somebody.

"Seeing him like this…it's soul chilling." said Tai with a saddened tone. "I wish he had not become what he is, he showed me compassion and friendship when I was younger and was like a father to me…but he turned his back on me and the rest of the world…"

As Tai left…Blake's hand twitched as if hearing what he had said…

End chapter


	5. Chapter 5: Future 1

Chapter 5: Future 1

Chapter 5: Future 1

Rex sat comfortably on his bed looking like he was waiting for somebody.

The area around him was an underground room like a tunnel; there were electric lights among the different rooms and his door was made of metal, otherwise the room was a dirt wall.

Everything was secure and there were metal pillars in each corner and the hallway was short but long enough to have doors into other rooms, the biggest room was connected to all the hallways in the center of the base.

Rex's room was on the left.

There were pictures on his wall; Rex was admiring the one over his bed.

Rex had very strong arms it was clear his super strength had exceedingly increased; it was more a toned-strong though not like: 'incredibly' huge.

His quills were a bit longer and his ears had more redness to them.

The picture he was looking over was him and Jewels at age nineteen.

She was wearing a long gown and was hugging Rex tightly while he was melting in her arms.

But Rex soon started frowning; something was bothering him about this picture.

He sighed and a moment later somebody came to his door.

"Drillmaster Rex?" a young freedom fighter asked. "Commander Flame is asking for your assistance."

"About time." Rex said while walking passed the eager freedom fighter.

The young cadet looked up to Rex almost in awe; Rex and Sonic were highly regarded as the stronger ones among the freedom fighters.

"Rex there you are." Flame said tilting his head in Rex's direction.

Flame was bandaged around his tail and around various areas like his legs and arms, all were red bandages and one was around his gloves, he was also older say twenty five at this time.

He stood there with papers and other things on the table, other freedom fighters standing by him looking busy.

Mint was also there, she was also older with a blue headband and skirt that matched it, around her wrist was a bracelet with a plus emblem on it, she was obviously a the freedom fighters' metical officer.

"Well well what brings Old Fiery away from his sector?" Rex said.

"Ah business as usual, I want to clear a mission with Sonic but since you're here I figured I could debrief you on the new cadets."

"We getting newcomers?" Rex said with an enthused expression.

"Yes." Flame said sitting down at the table, Rex also sat down while the others left with their papers.

The area about them was very well organized; the freedom fighters were all doing their own thing without many problems.

When everything got quieter Flame felt more comfortable speaking about important business.

"Well Sector V has successfully retrieved a missing sector, Sonic was right on which base they were being held in." said Flame. "However I didn't get enough time to burn the technology, I wanted to destroy the security cameras in time but they came back online before I could set them ablaze."

"Isn't Eggman doing his job properly? He's supposed to have all the technical stuff under control; he should have made sure the cameras were offline long enough." Rex said leaning backwards.

"'supposed to' are the key words, I swear that guy keeps swiping all the scrap metal and other supplies when he should be spending his time working, let Sector H take care of the supply jobs." Flame said. "But coming back to business you're going to be taking on some more students."

"Alright you know I'm completely fine with that, why are you beating around the bush so much?" Rex said feeling like Flame was leading up to something.

"Well it's not the recruits I'm getting at; there are a few young girls who are not to be put in combat but will be instructed by Mint here because we need medical and three young men." Flame cleared his throat.

"If the recruits are not the problem then what is it you're afraid to tell me?" Rex asked.

Flame turned his nose down sadly. "Rex, as you know, your son Marty was sent over a year ago to change the past, but still, nothing has changed, we tried contacting his watch and we were able to confirm…the watch was destroyed, and since nothing has changed we are led to believe he did not survive…"

Rex turned over the table in a fury. "No! That is not possible!"

"Rex I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you but my technical officers in sector V are absolutely positive." Flame said.

His eyes started to water and he turned away slamming his door.

Quiet silence overcame the poor hedgehog who was otherwise always very strong.

He was never able to control his emotions otherwise he'd have told Jewels his feelings much earlier then he had.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping and dreaming, that was all he could really do for the moment…

The freedom fighters went about their business since Sonic was not due to arrive for a while; he was out looking for bases again.

Blake had filled the world with new bases all impossible to break into and impossible to find, unless you were Sonic of course.

the inhabitants were bound by a set of rules and if you were to break even one of them you would be apprehended; frankly the people that lived on the planet excluding Blake's men and the freedom fighters you were lucky to even be alive.

Flame was having a hard time focusing on his work after seeing the look on Rex's face…he wished he wasn't the leader of a sector and that his men had never figured it out in the first place.

End chapter


	6. Chapter 6: Future 2

Chapter 6: Future 2

Anna growled as she walked down the stairs of her house; she felt this awful feeling as if she'd done something wrong.

Regret was not something this nine year old girl felt even as a little kid she'd had a short fuse.

The house was wooden with pictures on the wall; not much other then that beside a few beds and a couch.

She sat on the steps with her head in her hands, her tail moved back as she fixed her bangs.

"What will I do when she finds out…?" Anna thought to herself. "She won't be able to swallow this…"

The door creaked open slowly and Angie walked in and closed the door gently behind her.

She looked surprised at Anna's expression; like she was mad about something.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Angie asked, sitting beside her on the step.

Anna shrugged sinking her angry eyes down.

"Anna you can tell me anything." said Angie. "I understand, there's this spark inside you, I used to have it too."

"It was an accident." Anna said, her green glowing eyes seeming to glitter as if ready to cry.

"What was an accident Anna?" Angie asked.

Anna sunk her head and held her knees.

Her eyes looked so sad, never before had Anna ever felt so much compassion; Angie could tell something seriously wrong had happened.

As Anna tried controlling her emotions…Angie realized something and Anna saw her eyes open up in complete fear.

"Anna…where's your father?" Angie said.

Anna shrugged and downed her head again only able to say. "I didn't mean to…"

With that Angie rose to her feet running down the hall; Anna cowered as she heard the shriek coming from Angie's room…where Angie had just entered.

There Angie laid weeping holding what was her husband, a streak of green lay across him.

Anna approached sadly; Angie crying there, she didn't understand what had happened.

"Mom it was a mistake, the chaos energy just…well he brushed against my tail, I tried to save him but he tripped…and when my tail touched him I couldn't control the energy…it's like I have this darkness about me…and it's in the shade of green." Anna said. "Can you help Him?"

Angie put her hand over the fox's face closing his eyes.

The fox was tan and black with short spiky bangs wearing tattered jeans…the poor guy wouldn't make it.

Angie tried using the positive effect of the chaos energy running through her to revive him but it was too late.

Anna came closer but heard the sharpness of Angie's tone. "STAY AWAY FROM US!"

Angie was very scared and angry right now…the fact Anna could do such a thing even by mistake frightened her.

Angie was terrified of her own daughter and Anna picked up on her feelings right away…feeling the tension stab her in the heart.

Anna ran out the door feeling awful. "I'm never coming back here…it wasn't my fault…it's not fair…"

End chapter


	7. Chapter 7: Future 1

Chapter 7: Future 1

Rex found the strength to face them again…Flame was speaking with Mint at the moment.

Mint was being quiet; she understood the seriousness of the situation last night and knew it would not be easy for Rex afterwards.

Rex sat back down.

"I want the list of recruits." Rex said trying to ignore what had happened.

"Rex, I am so sorry this happened to you." Flame said.

Rex felt like he was being stabbed in the heart. "Stop, I don't want to talk about it…"

"Very well Rex, lets wait up on Sonic for the other stuff and for now I'll just give you the list." Flame said handing the hedgehog a piece of paper. "But Rex are you sure you're up for training anybody just now? Why don't you take a week off and rest, there's no hurry."

Rex took the list and went back to his room, not replying to Flame's suggestion.

Flame rubbed his chin sympathetically.

Mint couldn't help but speak out. "Flame…I don't think he should be training anybody now, his eyes are full of grief; I could tell the second he walks into the room."

"Yes I agree, but it's not our place to tell him what to do, he's already lost Jewels and Marty was all he had left." Flame said. "I think for now it's just better to leave him alone."

An alerting noise aroused their attention. "Hey guys!"

Flame clenched his chest breathing out while alerted. "What the? Don't DO that."

"Sorry couldn't resist." Angie laughed.

Angie too had changed, her jacket was completely torn up while her bangs were flowing and were longer, she was also a lot more optimistic.

"Angie you know better then to shout at the outpost, we have a hard enough time keeping it secret as it is." Flame said in a hushed voice.

"Sorry." said Angie. "So how are things going? Is Marty's mission going as planned?"

Flame was silent. "We think, Anna killed him, either that or time made it so…he never existed…"

"If that's the case why can we remember him?" Angie said.

"That's why I don't think it was the second conclusion." Flame said.

Angie's eyes sunk. "That's horrible…my daughter's mad, if there's nobody to distract her there's no telling how things could turn, she has killed before…I'm not surprised she did it again."

"We're just going to have to prepare for the worst Angie, the freedom fighters and I, are going to plan F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M." said Flame.

Mint shook her head. "You and I BOTH know that's suicide for you." Mint said putting her hand on his, looking him in the eyes. "Your ability has only been stable for small use since Tai tossed you in that lake, going ballistic with it, could, and WILL kill you."

Mint's sweet eyes starred into his, it made Flame think for a moment, she was very serious.

"I haven't been appointed to this position for nothing, if I have the ability to stop all this I need to try." Flame said, very bravely.

"No! You weren't appointed to die for us! You were to HELP us! How can you help anybody if you're dead?! You're a leader, not a soldier. Sure, we have enough fighters to use your diversion to our advantage, and it could work to melt down the metal base, but think of the cost, the last time you tried something that big you almost killed yourself." said Mint.

"You know, I could help if you guys need me, maybe if I use my shield I can keep the freedom fighters covered enough," Angie said, both turned their heads to look at her. "I wish I could still use my other abilities, after Anna was born a lot of my energy went with her."

A gust of wind alerted all of them.

"Good, Sonic's coming." Flame smiled.

A familiar face showed his presence, the blue line following in his shape, Sonic the hedgehog had returned at last.

"Hey guys, what's the scoop?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic, it's good to hear your mission went well." said Flame.

"Yeah well, it's been a few missions since I took on Blake, I'm glad things are getting easier, any news on him yet? I saw him disappear through the warp zone a while ago; but his troops are still storming different areas." said Sonic. "I don't know weather he's alive and working in secret, or that Tai and Shadow are taking over his position."

Flame shrugged. "Sonic, Marty's confirmed to be missing or dead…you may have sent Tails…back into the history that destroys itself."

End chapter


	8. Chapter 8: Future 1

Chapter 8: Future 1

Deep in the regions unknown to the freedom fighters.

Tai walked the great hall, it was dark and hard to see except for the main areas, a metal exterior to them, as Blake preferred.

His swords shining in the dim light, he approached one of his officers, and sat down to speak with him.

"Hello Captain Tai." the officer spoke.

Tai kneeled. "General Shadow."

Tai sounded irritated addressing Shadow as a higher rank, very bitter about it.

Tai sat down very professionally, while Shadow sat comfortably with his feet on the table and his chair tilted back.

"General, our plans aren't working, Blake is missing, and nothing makes sense anymore." Tai spoke brashly.

"Only the freedom fighters know he's gone missing, they can't flinch without us knowing about It. the planets' inhabitants are under control." said Shadow.

"But how long will the secrecy last? I'm not obligated to you if Blake's missing, what's the point of my staying around?" Tai said angrily.

"Because, if you go rouge like Spike did you'll simply be hunted down, and I won't be there to stop them, there are other officers that would not hesitate to lash out at you if they got power." said Shadow.

"Is that a treat?" Tai said.

"Honestly, a treat? I'm in the same position you're in, if we don't continue our leadership they'll outcast us in a flash. WE are what's stopping insanity from spreading, if every soldier on this planet started using their weapons, started upsetting the established order to things, what do you think will happen? To put it simply, we stop leading, this whole world is every man for itself." Shadow said. "I wouldn't mind, they'd be foolish to take me on in a fight, but you might not be so lucky."

Tai bit his lip. "So that's it…I'm destined to remain a Captain for the rest of my life."

"As far as I'm concerned keep your General title, like I care, I'm just here to keep the peace." said Shadow. "Blake made himself absent; blame him for your position."

Tai sighed gravely. "Then I suppose we should make plans of our own, what are we to do of the Freedom Fighters? If we want order they need to be dealt with."

"You're the plan guy, you deal with it." Shadow said uninterested. "Just make sure you don't disturb things, or violate the agreement Blake was held to."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Well now that you mention it, I do have a plan."

"we recently apprehended one of the renegades, as we both know Spike himself is a loose cannon, he came to insanity when push came to shove, I think that can come to our advantage, but that will only be to start things off." Tai said. "You see I've found when what you value most is threatened, people will do anything not to loose it, I request we bluff it, make it appear we'd publicly host a shooting, make Spike think we'd execute Power, and force him to come forward."

Shadow looked oddly at him. "Spike is mad, he released them all from his servos and has spent his time fighting people for sport, reduced to a common criminal hiding under the radar and avoiding our every attempt to capture him, what makes you think he wouldn't let him die?"

"I know Power's past position, and it was very similar to my own, my theory is Spike only lashed out on Power and turned him aside, to protect him, to keep him away from the line of fire." Tai said. "He won't let him die, and that's just the beginning. Blake had done a similar thing but he was so corrupt in his own mind he never thought to try the same move twice, he was obsessed with 'playing a game' with the enemy, never captured the big picture."

"Sonic can be used the exact same way, catch the bait and the fish will bite." Tai said, brilliantly but somewhat deviously.

"You honestly think you have anything on Sonic? All his supposed friends are kept a secret, Amy was rescued, the echidna went eccentric and impossible to find, and Tails went missing, all that are left are the freedom fighters and nobody in the entire planet can find them." Shadow said.

Tai's tilted his head up, paying more attention to Shadow. "You can."

"What?" Shadow asked.

"I mean, you can find them. Why didn't we think of this before? You're just as fast as Sonic is, you can catch him breaking into another base! This is perfect! We'll set a trap! Make it look like Blake's at it again, after he 'saves the day,' you tail him in secret, find our where he is! Hit him where he lives!" said Tai.

"I don't want to get involved, the entire reason I took this position is to avoid meaningless conflict, if I acted in public in any sort of way I'd loose my neutral position, I'm only here to act against stupidity, what Blake is known for." Shadow said.

"Blake is not here." Tai said. "His two generals are."

End chapter


	9. Chapter 9: Future 2

Chapter 9: Future 2

"So, you're a Time-Traveler too, what's your name?" Marty said suspiciously at him.

"…just call me…Amadeus, I will aid you on your way." the cloaked hedgehog spoke. "Is your watch still working?"

"No…I should know how to work it since I was the one who redesigned it after Tails went missing, but there's not much I can do though, not without the right material." Marty said, sitting down on the grass. "Each watch was powered by a filtered energy, like chaos energy, but a different type of power that Tails invented, without him there's nobody who can fix this watch, the energy was released when it broke."

"Foolish one, I can jump through time easily." Amadeus said. "Let me explain a few things to you that you're probably not familiar with."

Marty raised an eyebrow…but…still…this Amadeus…didn't seem like the type to lead him on.

"I have studied times' way, for a year or so, though I did not age the year from times' inability to stabilize my being. Time is like an hour glass so to speak, and you shook it up, and instead of the grains of sand flowing down, they got bumped up against the other grains of sand, so what sand was supposed to flow down first, was mixed up when it was shook. In other words, events fate had destined to happen, was disrupted with a different time-frame, and so, in time's distress, it 'made an extra hour glass' to put it metaphorically." Amadeus said, sounding very wise. "so the separate time frames are coming together, time will cancel itself out and all we know will be destroyed, or one will cancel out the other, either way catastrophes are bound to happen."

"What you are saying is true, but that was my whole intention coming here, to let the good future cancel out the other." Marty said, sounding very intelligent. "You wouldn't think I'd be so stupid, and come into a situation with no knowledge, I know time itself is mysterious and very complex, the reason we believed it was right to explore the limitless potential of time was because we had a connector."

Amadeus shook his head. "That was the biggest mistake of all, thinking a material thing could permanently separate the time-lines. You used the energy Tails managed to manipulate his own way, but didn't you wonder why he never put it to use? Tails was smart enough to keep an unidentified energy source away from the wondering eye, and thanks to it being taken, you too have abused its probabilities. Don't think I don't know you used the chaos emeralds as connectors as well, you left that out quite conveniently didn't you?"

Marty shrugged. "We knew there were risks."

"The chaos emeralds are the largest risk of all, and you copied their properties for your own gain, don't you know that combining such unidentified and unstable energy sources and power NO person could explain, can and WILL cause, as they're so brilliantly named for, chaos." said Amadeus, moving his cloak closer, very worried about being seen. "You're merely a child, they must have been desperate to leave the fate of the universe in your hands. "so, you combined the elements in both energies, and filtered it through a child's' watch, and sure, it could give you the power to time travel, but by using a connector of such priority, you knew the emeralds would always exist, and thus you knew no matter what time you were in they would always be there, since the chaos emeralds have existed as long as time itself, but you were hasty, you were foolish. You are just lucky I am here."

"And what can you do that I can't? How is it you can help me?" Marty asked, still suspicious and a little insulted by being called foolish a lot.

"I have a limited ability to manipulate time, only because of my unstableness in any given time frame, I use only myself as a connector, and so as long as I am alive in your dimension, I can use myself as a connector, also with an item I possess that allows it."

"How'd you stay alive in my time?" Marty asked.

"I'm under the radar there…of very low importance, nobody knows enough about me to arrest me for anything." said Amadeus, and then walking over to Marty. "But I warn you, traveling back may result in your never existing, though it will be inevitable if you remain here."

"Doesn't sound like I have much of a choice." Marty said. "I knew I might risk that coming here, so, if I might get to see my family again, it's worth a shot."

With that, the cloaked hedgehog drew near Marty, and showed him something. "This is called a Time Stone, it's the perfected version you made smaller and fit into your watch."

The gem was small, white and glowing bright, it was like a chaos emerald in a respect, but a lot smaller, and it was brighter; like holding a star.

It was on a necklace around Amadeus's neck, it lit up his eyes but Marty still couldn't get a good look at him.

"I'm hiding my face because I don't yet trust you boy, no other reason." he said. "now this doesn't work as a chaos emerald does, with the combined properties it's a lot more unstable then a chaos emerald which are all maintained by the master emerald, this little trinket's use is limited, and will only work since I have endowed it with myself as the connector. I am risking my life every time I use it, so realize the severity of this situation."

Amadeus breathed in for a moment and when he breathed out grabbed Marty's arm, the brightness of the crystal was similar to a chaos emerald, but it didn't seem nearly as powerful.

The energy grew white and flowed like a fountain of glowing water; all around the two was this whiteness, till all color was polished out.

The cleanness and somehow frightening sight took a hold of Marty's senses, he began calling out for his father in fear.

When he'd time traveled he never felt such tension, knowing he could vanish off the face of the earth at any moment.

Nothingness consumed both their vision till they forced themselves to close their eyes tightly.

A wind covered both their ears and a painfully fast paced heart added more to Marty's situation.

And then a calmness followed, he opened his eyes reluctantly, hoping he was not disappearing.

End chapter


	10. Chapter 10: The Space Between Futures

Chapter 10: The Space Between Futures

Amadeus stood his ground, ever vigilant of his surroundings.

Marty looked almost terrified; his chest felt like it was clenching in and out of itself from the stress.

"I've never seen anything like that in my entire life." he said, panting through the sentence.

"Because you're just a child." said Amadeus.

Marty couldn't see his expression, but he was sure by his tone of voice that he'd rolled his eyes.

The area around them was weird…like an unstable metal foreground.

"This place again, why is it so important?" Marty said. "This is where Anna took me before that I barely got out of."

"This is an unstable platform formed by Anna, and your interference, time is not effective here." said Amadeus. "This is the grey matter between dimensions of time, as you might put it: the hallway between rooms."

In from of them were two clear portals, circular shaped, but with nothing behind them, it looked similar to a warp-zone.

They swirled in white, both close to each other, but Amadeus was right, they were both separated.

"Look within each of them for the final proof." Amadeus said gravely.

Marty raised an eyebrow and came closer to the portals, but with enough distance.

The first one, (Future 1) was very bleak within, he saw images of Blake coming into power, raising his hand as the world came tumbling down.

He saw Rex and Sonic fighting viciously, Sonic using his speed while Rex accompanied him with his strength.

He saw the moment he lost his mother…he also saw many freedom fighters falling to Blake's soldiers.

He saw himself only younger, along with a lot of other cadets.

He saw himself being trained, he saw himself promoted and put on his quest, and then he saw…and witnessed Rex's death…and it looked to be soon.

All Marty ever wanted was to fix time so that, both him and his father could lead normal lives…and from the way things were looking…he wouldn't have the chance.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Marty said in distress, about to launch himself into it, but Amadeus slapped him.

"Foolish boy, don't you know warping yourself in there without a time stone is suicide?!" he shouted.

"But I have to save him! I can if I go back in time and stop it!" Marty said.

"No!" Amadeus said, stomping his foot on the echoing floor. "Do you think anything good can come of your death?"

Marty shut his eyes sorrowfully, and then stepped over to the other one.

Inside this one, he saw quite different situations, the good ones being Trixie and Ken's life playing out nicely, Flame and the others as well, but he saw Anna's shadow roaming over it, almost the same treat Blake had before his rise to power.

He saw deaths of very important individuals because of her plotting; it was very grim as well…

"What do we do, umm, Amadeus was it? Well what can we do? Both futures have horrible things happening in them…if I choose one…wouldn't it be wrong of me to? Just to save my father…" said Marty.

"Fate is a funny thing…" Amadeus said, sounding…almost sad. "I don't think it's for us to decide, you may be changing people's destinies around with the taking of the bad, others might end up dead where they otherwise wouldn't have…either way, your father's death is only one and that future already had a good many dead…but even if you look though these portals, they will never give you the whole story."

Amadeus sat down on the cold floor, his cape wresting as he did so.

Marty's eyes were watery…he was terrified for his father.

"Look boy, I have experienced this before, I brought you here to give you some sense. You see these portals will play out time, small portions and not much into the future. They were created by time when each separated from the other; this room is what makes traveling through time possible. I keep explaining this because you always seem to miss the point; you think this is a simple thing to manipulate. If you really want to stop them from either, colliding with one another, or from imploding, something needs to be done." Amadeus said, sounding very serious.

"I know I know! But what am I supposed to do? Studying them won't help anything without a solution!" Marty said hastily.

"There is a solution…but you won't like It." said Amadeus. "You are unaffected by either and will not make an impact unless you die or are absent from both of them for too long, Anna is the exception cause she 'is' an energy and not considered a person. Anyway, it's impossible for both of us to be in two places at once and, I am already present in both futures."

Marty blinked. "So, there are three of you?"

"Yes, I am probably doomed to stay here till the day I die, if I stay in either for two long time will react. But you however, you are missing from both now." said Amadeus.

"So basically you're saying, since there's a 'you' in future 1 and future 2, you have to stay here, and since I'm missing from both, one of the futures I never existed in?!"

"Yes, now time makes the second future your permanent future, the place you will HAVE to live in if you don't want everybody dead. Because of that you won't see the father 'you knew' ever again, and over time you might find a brother or sister born in your stead, in the second future." said Amadeus. "But that's only the beginning boy; you're going to have to fix this mess. One of us…could sacrifice our existence…but for that to happen we'd need to destroy the connectors so time resets itself, which would mean we'd…need to destroy the chaos emeralds, for now and forever."

Marty's jaw dropped. "THAT'S CRAZY!"

"It's not really suicide…we'd just be different people, you'd grow up differently and I would…" his sentence stopped there, knowing something in his clouded mind. "If it will save everybody we need to think about being selfless, we need to put everybody else first."

"Who are you Amadeus?" Marty asked bluntly.

"I'm a simple hedgehog, put in complicated circumstances, I know the value of life and I understand sometimes we need to put others first." said Amadeus. "This is one of those times."

Marty looked back into the portal playing out his life…it made him realize…he was right…he hated the fact to death but…he was right.

End chapter


	11. Chapter 11: Future 1

Chapter 11: Future 1

Power lay chained to the floor of his cell, people were in the cells next to him but he was too weak to try making contact with them.

The damaged hedgehog felt the cold feel of the cement floor, tears in his arm from the guard's beating made the experience worse.

He wasn't hurt bad enough to need medical attention, they made sure of that when giving him the awful treatment, but it did sting quite a lot.

A creaky sound followed, Power looked up at Tai who had just entered the room.

He pushed open the gated door and walked over to him.

Power turned hi back to him, wrestling his chains.

"Come now Power, you do have the largest cell here." Tai said deviously.

"It's still a cell." Power found the strength to badmouth him. "CAPTAIN Tai."

"For your information I'm a General once more, which means I make the rules again." said Tai. "But I digress, I don't want to have my men beat the tar out of you any more then you already are, and I have grave orders that will end a lot badly for you and your master if you don't tell me where he is."

"I'd rather die." said Power turning his back to him again.

"That might be the case. he casts you aside and you still protect him, you and I both know he's a worse threat then the resistance itself, it would all cease if you'd only give in." said Tai.

Power was silent, holding in the stinging feeling in his arms and legs so he wouldn't give Tai the satisfaction.

"I will give you a warning out of respect and understanding, for I too am bound to a master…and even in his absence I am bound to his servos…" Tai said sympathetically. "If you don't let us catch him, we will draw him out, and that will end in your execution. Why gamble your life when I can give you your life, you are forcing me to break my promise."

"If it's true you really understand my situation…then you know I would never betray him. He's like a brother to me weather I am to him or not is his business…but he is my Master…and as I just said, I'd rather die, so you know my answer." Power said, lying down turned away from him. "Now leave me alone to bleed."

Tai didn't know how he was to reply, he'd hoped he could talk some sense into him.

But Power was a dedicated person, and nothing Tai said would have changed his mind.

Tai stepped though the hallway, seeing as Shadow was waiting there.

"He won't listen to reason, we'll have to go ahead with my plan." said Tai, sounding disappointed. "Now, the other officers are not going to continue taking orders from anyone unless Blake has appointed them…"

"What're you getting at?" Shadow asked.

"I propose making me in charge until, and if he returns…I don't want this for me…but maybe if I take out all the freedom fighters I can rebuild this world in a better shape then Blake would have." said Tai.

"Hold on there, just the freedom fighters? How do I know you won't double cross me when it's all over? Blake and I have an understanding, you however, I don't trust. You've already betrayed everyone you've worked under a thousand times over." Shadow said with tension to his voice.

Tai growled. "I can see with your mistrust that there's no getting around you, care to settle this like men?"

"Are you serious? I almost killed Blake once, Sonic too, I am the ultimate life form on ANY planet, and you don't stand a chance against me. You'd best count your blessings I'm not in the mood for fighting right now." Shadow said.

"They were all arrogant, I've been trained for years in combat, and YOU'RE the one at a disadvantage." Tai said angrily. "I have no choice if you refuse me.'

"Fine then, you want to play it that way; I'll fight you tomorrow; that will give you a day to come to your senses, or to throw your life away." Shadow said confidently. "But I warn you, that pair of blades, will only last you so long."

End chapter


	12. Chapter 12: Future 2

Chapter 12: Future 2

Tai hesitated to leave when he saw the hand of his commander move…Blake had been in suspended animation for 10 years and had not aged a day, Tai was almost as old as Blake was now.

There was a presence consuming the room they were standing in, a whisper in the air.

Tai unsheathed his sword and approached his commander one more time.

He looked up, and to his dismay…the chaos emerald was gone! Blake's eyes started twitching like he was waking up.

"No!" Tai screeched. "I won't let him spread his chaos again!"

Tai threw himself on top of the chamber, using all his strength to keep it closed.

Blake's eyes darted open and…as he looked into Tai's worried eyes, he smirked.

"Well well, somebody's not doing their job properly are they?" Blake spoke in a weak voice.

Tai continued to hold it shut. "You're a monster, you've ruined countless lives and enslaved innocent people and have forced us to work for you, and as long as I live you will not leave this room."

Blake scoffed and laid his hands on the top of the pod pushing with all his might.

Now it was a battle of strength, Tai's sword slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor as he now needed both hands to hold Blake back.

Blake got his legs pushing against it, and was using all the weight he could; he was lying on his back so he had that to help him.

The door slammed open and clouds of Smokey air rushed out; Tai was thrown backwards nailing himself against the wall…landing against the side of his swords.

The mighty general lay there with a clear cut against his arm; his breath was taken away as he felt his heart beat faster.

There he stood…Blake the Supreme Commander, the one the people named 'The Destroyer' and 'The Tyrant' in the years he was sealed, even his own men feared him, only to have been taken down by the one he used to trust the most, and now…he had returned.

His tattered cape lay on the ground.

His eyes deep red without purpose; an angry approach and a death giving feeling overwhelmed in them.

"Wow, it has been a while isn't it?" Blake said, coming closer to his former General.

He laid his hand on his chest Tai's chest, and Tai realized something…

"You thought I'd never return the favor didn't you Tai? You honored me once, after I died." said Blake.

"Go ahead and kill me, like your daughter." said Tai.

Blake's eyes winced in annoyance.

"I have failed my mission. …you are a monster and I see that…but I still cared for you…I hate you for it now…you've caused so many casualties…you've done so much wrong…but deep down I must admit…I always thought of you as…a father...I wish there was some way I didn't…after all you've done…" Tai said.

Blake's teeth barred and he stepped backwards, looking into his eyes from where he stood.

"I was a boy, and though I resented you for taking my family and village away from me…I never had a father…he left when I was born…I was foolish and couldn't help it but…I can't speak it…I hate you for it! How could you make me care about your life when so many were taken because of it!" Tai spoke. "I may have made mistakes my whole life through, but I trusted you…how could you do it….HOW COULD YOU TOSS ME ASIDE WHEN MY OBLIGATION WAS BEING FILLED!"

"…" Blake filled the room with a tension you could reach right out and touch it.

Tai didn't know, but he could swear he felt a little empathy as well.

"You don't get it do you, I could never have anybody that close to me again, I saw you as a talented swordsmen and general, nothing more." Blake spoke.

"You're LYING!" Tai said, his eyes watering. "I felt it! You cared for me like I did you! You accepted me as a son!"

"…I already have a son." said Blake.

Tai started to shake, the pain in his side getting worse.

"I have lied to myself many times, I hated him for it, I cursed his name, I did everything in my power to kill him, but I just couldn't….it's because he's…he's her son…." Blake said. "Did I tell you what happened to me? Why I just showed up on your planet without as much as a word of my coming? I believe it was a warp-zone but more then that, I believed I was being punished for what I did, I lost my wife because I put my empire first, so I lost everything else so I could peruse it. I am a monster and that's all I've ever been, my anger took Melody…and thanks to you I've had a long time to think about it…but I don't regret it."

"WHY?!" Tai said.

"Because it's the way it is, I accepted my empire a long long time ago, I left what feelings I had for the girl…but…not my son." said Blake.

"What about me?! I don't believe your words…if you didn't care for me any more then a normal soldier then why did you invest your confidence in me, talk to me, cheer me up when I was young and in despair, treat me like a son…" Tai said.

"Because I was not always heartless, I took you in, trying to repay a debt for what I did, like you did for the fox.' Blake said.

Tai's eyes were filled with hate, he was not a young hedgehog anymore, he was near by Blake's age now, he got on his feet and struck at him, but Tai's hand was staid, and though he wanted to strike badly…Blake's eyes were hard to look passed.

"You're still the boy I trained…too scared to finish off the master. Tell me Tai, if you hate me so and yet care, why did you seal me in suspended animation? You truly are not like me, are you? That's why you could never be my son."

"I never wanted to…that's just how I felt, and from what you're telling me here, I know feelings are temporary and unimportant." said Tai. "But why would you take Spike over me? Because he's your real son, or because he defied you every way possible, why love the bad son over the one who stood up for honor in your eyes, the one who did what you asked of him, For what I thought was right."

"Because there IS no right! I used to think there was! But then…I found out the hard way that it wasn't true and it wasn't possible. There's always a wrong so why shouldn't I do for myself what I desire, ignore the meaningless wrongs and rights…" Blake spoke with a deep feeling surrounding him. "And as for my son, my real son, if you had not interfered, he would have taken me down, that's what I wanted, to see my son prove to me just how much like me he is. My words are compelling are they not? Why would the father want his only son to do away with him?"

"Why then?!" Tai said.

"Because it's what's fair. That day I appeared here, the long night I spent wishing there was a way to undo my mistake, and there wasn't, so I accepted it and perused my empire, but when my son appeared I wanted nothing more then to kill him, or have him kill me…I wanted him to stop being a weakling, I wanted him to be strong, follow in my footsteps, it's why I perused my goal in the first place and I thought if I accomplished that, then he would have what I wanted for him since he was a boy, I wanted my line to stand for something. And now thanks to you, and judging by your aged appearance, he's become a man, and you've remained a boy."

"You're wrong about Spike you know." Tai said.

Blake's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?!" he said in haste and anger.

"After you were suspended in animation, barring the way to you and keeping your whereabouts secret, I sought him out, and true, he's become a man, but not one like you, what you don't know about him, is that he didn't make the same mistakes you wanted him to. I still despise the rodent, but I respect him now, would you like to know what I found?"

"TELL ME!" Blake commanded, shoving him to the wall.

"A man with a wife and a family." Tai said.

Blake shook in fear…for one of the first times since Tai saw him.

"He's not like you at all! He gave up his quest and goal!" Tai said.

Blake fell to his knees. "No….he was to be…"

"A king? A tyrant? A dictator? Those are your real dreams weren't they? True I am a boy at heart, but its better then loosing my innocence like you did!" Tai's words were scarring to Blake; he didn't want to hear them. "your whole life was dedicated to pushing your family away in a foolish hope you'd be able to change the word, then later on when you found out he was alive you dedicated yourself to drive him into anger so he could be like you were, because you wanted a relief, because you wanted to think that you were not the only person who would do such horrible things. But Spike is a family man, has a son daughter and wife. He chose after HIS mistakes to correct them, to cease his actions, to stop the needless lust for power." said Tai. "What will you do now Blake? My, 'so-called commander' Are you going to kill me? The only son who used to respected you? Or peruse the son you have, who resented you and to this day, still defies you? I am lucky you are not my real father, and I'm glad feelings are temporary things."

Blake stood there for a moment, and in the blink of an eye…Tai saw his chest was bloody…and saw Blake's sword in the wound.

"My dear General, don't you know me at all?" Blake said.

All Tai could do, was stand still…shaking.

"Feelings last longer then you think, you think I would be able to stand in this state after the long years of endless sleep, without a little dose of anger?" he said.

"I suppose I'll need to do my part in correcting my mistakes then, I'll take from my son what I once sacrificed for him, his family. You were right, I did hope you would be the son I always wanted, but you're not, and because of that fact, I will leave you alive." Blake said. "But just barely..."

End chapter


	13. Chapter 13: Future 2 Seven Years Earlier

Chapter 13: Future 2: Seven Years Earlier

Spike and Power traveled with one another, going from place to place like they did when they were younger, only, they had given up on their previous goal, and they were just looking for a place to stay.

"Master?" Power asked.

"Yeah Power?" Spike said, not sounding testy like he'd been in the past, but, very calm and relaxed.

"What's that up ahead?" Power said.

Spike focused his eyes, looking in the distance in front of him.

In seemed to be a town, though it was not in ruin and the people they saw seemed…happy, they were enjoying themselves, a kind community untouched by Blake's former rule.

"This is a change of pace." Spike said to himself.

As they came closer they noticed the town was more active and full of life, there'd not been one such as this on their planet for a long time.

Flowers arose around the kind little houses all stacked in a row, a stone paved path around it with painted fences gating it.

There was a huge fountain in the center of the town and there were trees close to them, many of them bearing fruit, and there were shops and young people playing.

mostly hedgehogs there, because of Blake's former law, but they were enjoying themselves all the same, in conversation or simply picking up bred from the market.

"How do you think Blake missed a place like this?" Power said as they came nearer to it.

"I have no idea; so long as they have something to eat I won't mind it." Spike said with a half smile.

He walked up to one of the people at one of the shops, but as he was about to speak, he noticed the entire crowd stopped in silence to stare at him.

Spike and Power got into battle stances, expecting an attack.

There were about seventy people there, give or take a few.

And though Spike and Power were ready for a fight, what they got was much different.

People began cheering and celebrating: "All hail The Great Warrior!" and "Thanks to him we're free!" and other acknowledgements of gratitude.

People started flocking around him.

One of them approached Spike directly and shook his hand.

"I don't understand." Spike said, suspicious of all of them.

"Don't you know? thanks to you Blake's soldiers were freed from his empire, I being one of many who were allowed to return to our families, many of our wives and children and parents were bound by Blake's law which might as well have been slavery, now we don't have to live in fear anymore." he said gratefully. "You're a hero."

"Yeah, but do you deserve that title?" another spoke out.

It was a girl, red in fur color with pink highlights at her quills and her small spikes that covered her eyes; she had spunky looking fur and ripped baggy slacks.

She had a smug expression on her face.

"Laura, he did save our entire planet, the least you could do is appreciate It." the former soldier said.

All the towns people continued with what they were doing, most of them appeared to know this 'Laura' girl.

Power noticed something in Spike's eyes as he was looking at her, it was seldom seen of Spike for as long as Power had known him.

She put her eyes to his with a challenging expression.

"Listen 'Great Warrior' as you're supposedly called, I'm the toughest fighter around here, and I don't take kindly to you showing up here cramping my style." she said.

Spike was fascinated, like he'd been first meeting Jewels, only she seemed a lot different in personality.

"Well? Too scared to speak up for yourself?" said Laura, shoving him backwards. "Why don't you fight me and prove you're as great as they say you are!"

Spike looked at her with the oddest expression.

"My Master wouldn't fight a girl unprovoked." Power said "Move along girl, we're only looking for a place to stay for the day."

The girl grinned. "You don't understand me stranger, you see around here, I'm the best fighter, and you're in my town now."

"What? But you're just a girl." Spike said.

Something about what Spike just said made the girl incredibly angry.

"I'LL SHOW ME JUST A GIRL!" she growled as she took a punch at him, but missed.

Spike dodged. "Hey! what the heck are you doing?!"

All of a sudden a fight sprung, though Spike wasn't fighting back, just dodging.

Laura back flipped, laid a punch into his side, then slid under his arm and socked him directly in the face and switched to a battle pose.

"What's the matter Great Warrior? Afraid I'll beat the tar out of you?" she said, egging him on.

"Master, do you want me to interfere?!" Power said very alarmed.

"I think I can handle it." Spike said, flipping to the other side.

"This is MY TOWN! I'm the lead fighter!" she said.

Naturally all the towns' people were aroused, watching the fight's every move like hawks.

Laura was insulted he wouldn't fight her back, no matter how fast on her feet she was she couldn't pin him down which made her all the more ticked off.

Spike was completely baffled on the reason they were fighting in the first place, but still, though she laid very few punches he couldn't dodge, she was right about being a good fighter.

She in fact was the most precise fighter he'd seen, Blake was very aggressive, she was fighting with technique and style to it, easier to predict, but harder to dodge.

Laura suddenly back flipped and nearly broke Spike's arm, and right when she was about to use a finishing attack, Spike came up with a way to end it all.

He tripped her, sliding his foot under hers; Laura lost her balance and landed squarely in the center of the fountain, soaking wet.

Power was impressed at Spike's quick work; he'd swung his foot where she was running just in time.

Naturally everybody was laughing and mocking her, and then they all slowly left one by one.

Power readied to leave but, he was surprised at Spike's reaction this time.

"Power, why don't you go check the town for something to eat." Spike said.

"Master? Aren't you coming?" Power asked.

"No you can go, I'll catch up." Spike said, urging him to leave.

Power felt weird about it, but followed his orders anyhow.

End chapter


	14. Chapter 14: Future 2 Seven Years Earlier

Chapter 14: Future 2: Seven Years Earlier

Spike approached her with a concerned expression.

Laura sat there in the pool of water with a defeated and ashamed look on her face, fixing her bangs though they were wet.

"I'm sorry…I just wanted to defend my title." Laura said a little bitter in tone. "Fighting's all I'm good at…and the people used to respect me for it…"

Spike slowly let out his hand for her to except it.

"I understand your will to fight, Laura is it? But why provoke a fight if you can avoid it? If you had been in ANY of the situations I've been in, you'd have learned that long before I did." Spike said.

Spike didn't know about the look she gave him, there was something, about her expression that made him blink twice before helping her…

Laura reluctantly took his hand, and got out of the fountain.

"I suppose I should apologize for attacking you out of the blue, but I'd heard you were the toughest fighter in the world, better then Blake himself, I thought maybe if I were to beat you in a fight…I'd earn a name for myself, I suppose it was silly of me." Laura said.

"Not really, I remember doing something similar myself." Spike said.

Laura smiled. "Well I can see some of the rumors about you weren't true, I heard you were angry all the time and wouldn't talk to anyone, but you're actually, very nice."

"…" Spike didn't know how to continue, he hadn't realized he wasn't acting like himself at all talking to her, all his effort of keeping himself distant from people was crumbling to pieces as he had just realized it. "I don't think you understand, I'm really…I…I don't know if I deserve those words, I'm not a kind person, I've made too many mistakes."

"Mistakes you say?" Laura stepped in front of him. "You're not the one who acted on impulse, who attacked somebody without reason. People make mistakes, why are your mistakes different?"

She tilted her head different directions looking at him.

Spike immediately felt uncomfortable, she was up very close to him, and then she grabbed his arm.

He reacted instinctively, and did a blocking motion.

"Clearly you've been through more then people are saying, haven't you? Otherwise you would not have subconsciously blocked my sudden movement." Laura said. "Sit down, stranger."

The girl dropped off her feet and crossed her legs on the grassy floor.

Spike shrugged, and obeyed, sitting down himself.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Uhhh, well…Spike." he said.

"I know your type." she said.

"My type?" Spike said defensively. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on your face explains your whole history." Laura said, grinning widely. "The reason I'm talking to you like this, is the moment I saw you I immediately saw what type of person you are, you're in the same boat I was weren't you? I know for a fact you're the fighting type, not just that, you don't have any family connections I'm assuming, unless that person you were with is your brother or something."

Spike crossed his arms.

Laura sighed. "I lost my parents when I was young; my Dad gunned down by Blake's soldiers, my Mom of a heart attack, horrible fates for each of them, so that meant I had to take care of myself. I stayed around this little village even when it was raided the times before. I have this flaw in my personality that makes me eager to prove myself, and being the toughest fighter I had put myself in charge of keeping anybody with ill intentions away, besides those with guns anyway, hope you understand what I'm trying to say."

"No, I really don't." Spike said.

"I know; I run in circles when I talk." Laura smiled.

"But I'm sorry about your family; I know how hard that can be…" Spike said sympathetically.

"So I was right about what your past must have been like, I knew I had a feeling about you." said Laura.

"I had a feeling about you too for some reason…though it's not the feeling I've gotten before. Did you feel it too?" Spike said. "I don't really know what to make of you."

The girl backed up a little, shaking.

"Did I say something wrong?" Spike said. "I meant no insult."

"No…nothing's wrong…I…I just have to go…" she said, rushing back into town, slamming her front door behind her.

Spike looked thoroughly bewildered, why was this girl acting so strangely?

End chapter


	15. Chapter 15: Future 2 Seven Years Earlier

Chapter 15: Future 2: Seven Years Earlier

The air was clearer now, an afternoon relaxed feeling.

Spike stood silent sitting on the fountain, watching the sky and waiting for Power to return.

Power came back, holding a bucket of apples in his arms.

"I'm sorry Master, I know how much you detest these things; but that's all that was there." Power said. "They just gave them to me, said they wanted to repay you and…"

Spike didn't seem to be listening, it was clear something else was on his mind.

Power lay the apples on the side of the stone fountain, making sure they wouldn't fall, and then sat beside him.

"Master?" he said kindly.

"Power, have you ever got a restless feeling?" Spike said. "Like you're tired of the same old thing day after day?"

Power hesitated to answer. "I do, but you're like my brother Master, I could never be too restless with you around."

Spike also took a while to answer him. "Do you ever think…"

"Master, did that girl harm you when I was gone?" Power said, assuming that's why Spike seemed so far away.

"Nothing like that…I just got this weird feeling." Spike turned his head.

There was something memorizing about Spike's expression right now…he couldn't wrap his brain around it, why was he behaving this way?

"…Master, did you ever notice the look in Rex's eyes when Jewels was around?" Power said; his tone was softer then usual.

"Yeah, I always thought it was because he was so obviously…" Spike suddenly shook terrified, and turned his head.

"My Master…Are…are you in love with her?" Power said, his eyes opening in realization.

Spike felt this uncomfortable pain in his chest; he never thought he'd ever hear those words spoken to him.

"That can't be true I…I…she…nobody could care for a person like myself, I'm very focused on accomplishing my own goals." Spike said, trying to drown out his thoughts.

"But…do you care for her?" Power asked.

Spike didn't reply.

"You don't have to tell me what kind of life you've led, what mistakes you've made, what you've learned on the way, I was there with you. The difference is you were able to accept it and be done with it, so why should it matter now?" Power said. "I…I don't know much about this but…you shouldn't make the mistakes I did, I turned down somebody who I…cared for because I didn't want to accept it."

Spike sighed sadly. "It was Melody wasn't it?"

Power felt the situation had turned back on him. "I…"

"It's ok, I get where you're coming from, that's why I don't think I'll pursue this girl...even if I accepted the mistakes that I've made….there's no guarantee she will…" Spike said.

"Master, what's stopping you? You'll never know otherwise, and there's nothing in the way now, why not?" Power said.

"Power the last time I got close to somebody…" Spike's eyes closed in sadness.

"I know what happened to your mother, but Blake is gone now, Tai took care of him, you don't have to be afraid to show emotion any more." Power said. "Besides…I was hoping that, if it permits you, that…that you and I could…would you…would you be an older brother to me? Can I call you Spike and stand beside you as….as an equal?"

Spike jumped off the fountain and did something Power…did not expect…He hugged him.

Power had not gotten so much as a handshake from his Master his entire life, and he'd just now given him a brotherly hug, just there…

Spike looked at him with his warm eyes with his hand on Power's shoulder.

"There's nothing I would like more." Spike said. "You have been loyal from the beginning; you have treated me like a brother, why can't I show it in return. You see I had told myself long ago that I needed to stay away from contact, because of my mother and her death. That's why even when I saw my sister for the first time in years I staid my distance. But though everyone in my family is gone, I have never lost you, you my brother, are what has kept my sanity, and if not for you I would have come to despair."

"And if not for you my brother, I would have been destroyed by the landslide; you not only saved my life once, but twice by allowing me to stay by your side." Power said.

Spike smiled sweetly, a smile he hadn't worn in a long time.

"About the girl though…other then Jewels, I've been very much confused by them. She just ran off without an explanation in the middle of our conversation." said Spike.

"They don't make sense to me either, worth looking into though; maybe tomorrow you could stop by or something." Power said.

"What on earth should I say? I don't even know the girl…" said Spike.

End chapter


	16. Chapter 16: Future 2 Seven Years Earlier

Chapter 16: Future 2: Seven Years Earlier

Laura looked out the window of her house, readying to water her flowers at her window.

She was in a pleasant mood.

"That boy…he sure made me feel weird." she thought to herself. "Maybe he's got some special effect on people or something."

Her bangs were a little messy today; she hadn't had the time to tend to them yet.

Her house was blue and white with flowers among the place, with a white gated well kept yard.

Inside was a fully furnished house with a huge cleared area in the living room, there were weights and pulleys and other things for working out, as well as a boxing ring in her back room.

It looked girlish on the outside, but guyish on the inside.

"I wonder if he'll show up again...he has the deepest red eyes I've ever seen." she thought, then shook herself as if annoyed with what she was thinking. "Don't be silly, I'm a fighter I don't have time for romance."

She noticed she was over watering the plants. "For goodness sake, I'm acting like a school girl with a childish crush."

"Say again?" Spike said.

Laura shrugged, Spike was at her gate and she spotted him though the window.

Spike made up his mind he would not peruse her, but still; he told himself there was no harm in passing by.

"Hello…" Spike said with an odd sound to his voice.

Her hair was unattended and she just now noticed it, she started fussing with it.

"Don't you know it's rude to come uninvited." said Laura with nervousness in her voice.

"I wasn't really expecting to run into you." Spike said. "I was just passing by..."

"You knew this was my house didn't you?" Laura smiled sweetly.

"Uhh…well…sorta…I was a little baffled with your rushing off." Spike said, trying to change the subject.

"Come over here, it's hard talking to you from the window." Laura said, shutting the window.

Spike felt weird about it, so he didn't obey.

Laura grunted, and walked up to him, then grabbed him by the arm. "Foolish boy, don't you know I don't have time for romance!"

Spike about jumped three feet backwards, he found he couldn't speak.

"What's the matter? You deaf or something?" Laura said.

"I, I never said that." Spike said.

Laura stomped her foot in frustration.

"Stop it with the adorable expression on your face!" she covered her eyes. "It's driving me crazy! I can't stay the best fighter with you around, and I certainly can't get swept off my feet with all my plans."

Spike felt like his throat clenched into itself and his heart hurt, he was extremely nervous.

Laura sighed. "Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out weather it's for real or not."

She out of the blue, grabbed his wrists, and kissed Spike quickly.

Spike felt like he was having a heart attack.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" Spike said. "Are you insane?!"

Laura looked at him with a fascinated expression, and smiled happily. "I wanted to see if it was just a childish crush or not."

"SO YOU FREAK ME OUT LIKE THAT?!" Spike said.

"Oh don't overreact, I wanted to know." she said with a confident look on her face.

"…and…and what did you find out?" Spike said.

She looked at him like he should have known to answer. "I'm in love with you silly!"

Spike couldn't transmit the last sentence to his brain, his eyes lost focus and he completely passed out.

She leaned over him. "He fainted?"

---

Spike opened his eyes slowly after a few hours, and noticed he was still passed out on the grass in front of her house, with her sitting next to him staring at him.

"How long were you staring at me like that?" Spike said, his voice cracking from nervousness.

"Oh about a few hours, wanted to make sure some kid wouldn't run up and poke you with a stick or something." she said.

"Well, thanks for that." Spike said sarcastically.

"Why did you faint?" she asked.

"Cause you almost gave me a freaking heart attack!" Spike said.

"Why?" she asked, honestly not understanding him.

Spike looked at her like she was insane. "Because you don't just up and kiss somebody then tell them that…"

Laura seemed a little nervous herself now. "I suppose I was a bit blunt, but I meant what I said."

"What is wrong with this girl? Has she completely lost her mind?" Spike thought to himself. "Still…this is a weird situation…I…I never met anybody like her before in my life…"

Everything was quiet for a few moments….until Laura broke the silence. "Well?"

"Well what?" Spike said.

"Do you love me back?" she said softly, her eyes glittering as she looked at him.

Spike clenched his hands and shook slightly, rubbing his palm against his spiky fur and over his face in confusion. "I…I don't know…"

"Certainly you must know now, do you feel like fireworks when you're around me?" Laura said, with an innocent voice.

"It…it feels more like huge rockets." Spike said.

"…" Laura burst out laughing; she rolled over on the grass giggling hysterically.

The laughter was catchy, Spike found himself laughing too, and was amused by his statement as well.

"I like you Spike." Laura said, hugging him.

Spike's eyes opened wide as he was unexpectedly hugged and met with kind affection.

"Why do you like me?" Spike asked.

She looked at him like a little girl hugging a puppy dog. "Because, you not only outwitted me in a fight, you have honest eyes, you give me a safe feeling, you genuinely care and I can feel it. I know I'm foolish, but somehow, you have been able to look past that. but most of all I feel fireworks and sparks around you, I know I only met you yesterday, but it's so strong I feel like I've known you my whole life, I think you like me too..."

"…Yes Laura…I…I like you too." he said with a laugh.

End chapter


	17. Chapter 17: Future 2: Present Time

Chapter 17: Future 2: Present Time

The front door of the base came down in tiny pieces, Blake had just thrust one of Tai's swords though it.

He stepped out the door with a red stain on his fur…Tai lay there on the floor behind him breathing heavily.

He took one look behind him…his stained gloves wiping against the doorway.

Tai looked up at him one last time; ready to pass out, but the look he gave Blake…sent a message without him speaking a word.

There was shattered metal and Tai's other sword was driven into the side of his chest…

Blake's cape lay on the ground, he hadn't picked it up and left Tai there.

It was obvious a fight broke out, both were bleeding in various areas and had more scratches then you could imagine from one fight.

The villainous hedgehog ran through the terrain, making his way to where Spike was.

He'd forced Tai into telling him, by holding him to a deal where the looser of the fight would give into the other's demands.

Tai knew very well he wasn't as strong as Blake, but accepted the challenge anyway.

There was a long silence as Blake ran at his fastest, scanning his horizons at the now peaceful existence.

When he came to the village where Spike lived…something made him hesitate.

It was dark out and there were electric lights, everybody was asleep, but Spike's house's porch light was on.

Blake was in a vengeful state, having so many years of his life consumed and trapped within his own mind…angrier every moment that went by, nobody could comprehend how angry he was right now; he was intoxicated with his own infuriation.

there was Spike's house, a white and blue coloring to it, flowers at the window and the grass moving against the night wind and sparkling with the dew.

It disgusted Blake, and reminded him even more of the life he used to live, that only heated him up more.

In a fury, Blake punched through the window with his fist, breaking it in the process.

He crawled through the opening he'd just made, scraping glass against his jaw, but he was so furious he was completely numb to pain.

A little girl stood there inside the kitchen looking at him with curious eyes…bows in her hair with reddish pink fur and interest in her body language.

Blake just starred at her…the lights were off inside and she'd gone to get a drink of water.

"Are you one of Daddy's friends?" she asked.

Blake didn't move or say anything…just looked at her…and then his eyes attracted to the movement on his left.

There stood a stern looking boy, his fur tainted black with red streaks among his messy spikes, a patch of red at his eyes and other streaks of red across his ankles.

"DAD!" he boy yelled, suddenly standing in a battle pose. "You stay away from her or I'll tear you to pieces!"

Blake barred his teeth…it reminded him very much of how Spike would behave as a young hedgehog.

He approached him. "Don't make me harm you child."

"Stay back you psychopath! I saw you come through that window!" the boy said. "I warn you, I'm a master at hand to hand combat, marshal arts, and every form of competitive fighting."

"What's going on in here?!" Spike yelled…stopping in shock as he saw Blake…standing there.

The lights came on, and Spike's wife ran up to the little girl.

Spike stood in front of his family protectively; there was a hard silence there for a moment, until Laura asked her daughter a question.

"Sarah are you ok? Did he hurt you?!" she said with worry in her voice.

Something inside Blake snapped entirely…time started going slow and his already clouded mind was going completely blank with rage and despair.

"…You…named her…Sarah…" the sentence didn't even sound human, his eyes lost their color.

His blood soaked hands clenched so tight he cut into his own hand…

He did not blink…just starred blankly there for a moment…

Spike knew he had to do something.

"Laura! take the kids out right now!" he said firmly.

She knew he was right and picked up the girl as Spike's son began to follow.

She ran out the door, but the boy didn't.

"Slade! Go follow your mother!" Spike said strongly.

"No dad! This is what you trained me for!" he said, standing beside him. "I'm a master at combat!"

"This isn't your fight!" Spike said. "He doesn't fight fair, now go follow your mother!"

…all in a second, Blake had his hand on the young boy's throat.

Spike grabbed Blake's arm, but he couldn't loosen the grip on his son.

He punched him many times which would have normally made him black out…but nothing was affecting Blake, no form of combat would make him let go.

Slade was choking and struggling for breath.

Blake tightened his grip slowly, cutting into his throat.

"BLAKE! UNHAND MY SON!" Spike screamed, barring his fists into Blake's chest, he knocked him down on the floor, and Blake let go.

The boy was trying hard to see but he could just lay there across the wooden floor coughing and trying to breathe.

Spike had gained strength the years he was married to Laura, his shoulders were broad and his arms and hands were strong, he held Blake down with all his might.

Blake starred in to his eyes with contempt and hate. "I sacrificed everything for you…"

Spike lifted Blake's head up and slammed him down again, breaking part of the floor. "YOU! You have taken EVERYTHING away from me before! YOU CAN NOT TAKE MY FAMILY TOO!"

Slade was barely alive…his throat was dripping…and he couldn't stop coughing.

Spike looked back after hearing his son's coughing…and made the choice to go to him.

He quickly leaned over him, trying to revive him every way he knew possible.

Blake watched him as he did this…Blake's breath still hot and there was a fire lit in his eyes but…seeing Spike act this way…so loving and caring to his son and comforting him…

Spike held his son in his arms…crying like he'd not before.

Slade was still alive but…he was badly hurt, the boy hugged him continually coughing.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?!" Spike yelled. "This is what you might as well have done to my mother!! You let her die, you tried to kill me, you tried to kill my friends and everybody I cared about…and you come back after seven years of peace and come in and try to kill my six year old son!"

Blake's life flashed before his eyes…every memory…every moment ran by him, his entire life and…

Blake stood up, bleeding and wounded.

"DON'T COME NEAR US!" Spike screamed so hard he hurt his throat.

Blake…he looked at him again…and sighed to himself…

"I just want you to feel what I felt, the loss!" Bake said with a deep bellowing voice.

"I FELT THE LOSS!" Spike screamed. "every moment of my entire life…I felt the loss…I longed to see her again…I longed to hear her telling Melody stories…now both of them are gone…,my sister… and my mother most of all…I longed to hear her laugh and to hold me in her arms…I felt the loss…and she's dead because of you and there's nothing you can ever do to change what you've done…you contradict yourself a lot my 'so-called father'…you don't know what it is you really want…because you had it before you killed her…I now know I don't hate you…I feel sorry for you."

Blake's eye twitched.

"I have the chance to not make the same mistakes you've made, I have a family and I care for them deeply, above EVERYTHING else! If I had the choice between them and holding this planet I'd take them in a heartbeat!" Spike said, hugging his son tightly and continuing speaking with his eyes closed. "I have felt power at my fingertips, I have felt the urge and exhilaration of taking down my enemy and defeating them, I know how it feels to rule, I know how it feels to feel good at other's expense…but there is a huge difference between you and me…I am not willing to cross the line when it comes to the ones I care about, they're above everything else...you made the choice to abandon me, so leave me and my family alone!"

Blake tried to hold back the tears…he understood everything Spike was saying…and deep down he knew it was all true…

The only thing he justified his actions with, is the fact Spike was so much like him.

But in the end…Spike made something of himself.

Blake creaked open the door…and looked one last time back at his son…Spike didn't understand the look through his eyes…he looked…sad…and guilty…

Blake slowly walked though the door…leaving Spike to tend to his son…never to return…

End chapter


	18. Chapter 18: Future 1

Chapter 18: Future 1

The blue heroic hedgehog walked outside the freedom fighter base, standing a far enough distance so nobody would find the location.

He sighed as the wind blew the leaves off the trees, flowing vibrantly in atom colors.

There was a sad feeling in the wind today and even Sonic felt it, it was foggy and the thick cloud of dusk swept upon you.

The barren land in the distance sitting like an eyesore on what would have been a descent planet.

It made Sonic miss his world…but it could not be helped now.

The trees were rustling and Sonic's eyes were focused in his dimly lit surroundings.

"Wonder what life might have been like…if things had panned out differently." Sonic wondered.

---

While the freedom fighters went about their business…Rex was feeling really down now.

He had quite a few young pupils today, that were eager to learn, but he was not really eager to teach them.

Rex had spent the day in the training camp, which was located a while away from their main base of operations.

In fact it was out in the open because of the noises and gun fire and other types of fighting that went on in training.

But as a precaution there were freedom fighters posted there whose soul duty was to protect the recruits if attacked.

there were different types of metal there set up for punching and kicking, expert level and ones with unique strength would practice with that but Rex was really the only one to master that level, Sonic as well but he was already pretty much self trained.

There were also benches and fences with markings on them for target practice and sandbags and larger ones set up on a wire for punching and working out.

There were gun shells all around the area, the recruits would clean them all up every day to make sure they could craft them over again, which in itself was very difficult, but you had to use what you had.

Eggman provided them with extraordinary technology for those who would not be fighting, and for tracking different people and different areas of operation.

Rex's most important duty of all was training the new recruits, younger officers needed to know how to deal with the enemy and different ways of fighting and since Rex was already training his son a while back he got into the habit of drilling kids.

But even the thrill of breaking metal with his fists and using his unique strength, wasn't raising his spirits any.

One student in particular gave him a hard time, not the fact he was really a problem, but the fact he was so similar to his son who he believed to have perished along with Jewels…

"Alright newbie's, show me what you've got." Rex said, trying to sound optimistic to cover his grief.

One by one the young hedgehogs and few other species laid into the sandbags as best they could; punching and kicking, all of them unusually good at this type of thing. (Though you'd pretty much have to know a basic way of fighting with Blake's world being the way it was.)

One of the students was a young hedgehog, grayish gold color in fur, with dark green eyes; he wore slacks and an old uniform of some sort.

He spoke out to Rex.

'This is Childs play." he said, not wanting to attack the sandbags like the others. "Blake's robots and other freaks are a lot harder then a stupid bag of sand."

Rex raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you could teach better?"

All the students were grouped together snickering and laughing.

"Bet I could, who made you boss of me anyway?" he said. "If my dad were still alive he'd show you a thing or two."

"Look, almost every student here has a few loved ones missing or lost, but do you really think your dad wouldn't want you to try your best effort to help our cause?" Rex said, with a confident voice.

The boy scoffed, and the other newbie fighters continued to laugh at them.

The boy then took a look back at the metal Rex would use to lift and attack to keep himself fit.

"Bet I could break that medal in half while you can only lift It." he said.

"I'd strongly advise against that, I was born with unique strength, my strength score is a nine, second only to Knuckles. When you were recruited the reports said you're a six at max." Rex said.

The boy ignored him and immediately ran up to the medal, and wound up a punch and threw his fist into it.

But to the boy's dismay, it didn't event dent, and his hand felt like it was broken and he couldn't help but moan and yell.

The others were whispering to themselves.

"Your training's done for today, go with one of the senior fighters to the huts, we'll discus your respect issue there." Rex said.

The hedgehog obeyed, though resentful as Rex continued the lesion with the others.

---

Deep in the cells where Tai kept special prisoners, was Power, the renegade.

Power crawled backwards, tossing and turning, trying not to lie on his chains as he waited for his tired eyes to fall asleep.

As he wrestled around, he noticed there was another noise of chains coming from the cell beside him.

Now there were small window slits between them, but it was very hard to look through it being chained to the wall, so Power just spoke.

"Who's there?" Power said weakly. "Are you one of the freedom fighters or a rouge like me?"

The answer was delayed; the sound of metal twanging against the floor became clearer. "I don't really know what I am anymore…"

The voice made Power wonder, it was female but there was a choked sound to it and he couldn't recognize it. "Are they planning on killing you too…?"

"They wanted me for my intelligence, but as of late they seem to be improvising…so I don't really know." she said, coughing at the end of her sentence. "Seems they've left me to rot, suppose it's for the best anyway…though I wish I could have seen his face one last time…"

"So you have a special someone? Dangerous choice with how fates are often quick and merciless." Power said.

"I suppose, but we were young and foolish, we didn't anticipate what could possibly have happened next…" she said. "It doesn't matter now…he's probably forgotten all about me by now.'

Power moved a little closer. "You know, you shouldn't talk like that, hope is all we have, even when it's pointless to think so."

The girl turned on her back Power assumed, for she did not answer for a long period of time. "You're right about hope being for fools…if there was any right in this world, I'd be dead by now…"

End chapter


	19. Chapter 19: Future 1

Chapter 19: Future 1

Tai paced down the hall of the prison sector, once again heading for Power's cell, he pulled the bars apart, and let in the dim light.

"Thanks to you, Shadow has challenged me to a fight." Tai said, sounding like he regretted pushing Shadow to that point. "You are going to proceed with my plan and I don't care if you're killed or not! I am angered you don't care about my position when I stuck up for yours."

Tai walked up to him and unshackled his chains and kicked him once. "Get up, or I'll force you to get up, I have ten guards at my command and even more at their posts nearby." Tai said, sounding like he was giving him a warning.

Tai pulled Power up on his feet and forced him closer, getting his hands messy from Power's wounds, and dropping him after getting stains on his gloves.

"MEN!" he shouted angrily.

Power felt a blow to the head when he hit the floor. And was too tired to move.

"You allow me to come in and interrogate a prisoner when he's all wounded and bloody? Are we wild animals? Have we no decency? Get him cleaned up and ready for transferring!" Tai said, leaving the premises.

The guards entered swiftly, holding Power's body weight on their shoulders as others held guns to his head, not underestimating him.

The girl came up to the bars, or as close as she could being chained down as well…and as Power was escorted out they each exchanged looks towards each other…and both reacted in amazement and fear…

"Jewels…" Power said.

It was Jewels, her arm was in a sling and chained, her forehead was covered in day old stains and there were scars on her back and whip marks on her arms.

Her eyes were sunk down and her spirit seemed broken…still…she seemed worried about him by the look in her eyes.

Power dragged his feet…staring at her with his heavy eyes.

The hedgehog was shoved out the door, and pushed into the mud.

"Come on! Roll on the floor like the dog you are!" one of the soldiers shouted.

It was raining outside and it was dark out, the clouds had centered around the base.

The base was large and heavily protected with different types of security posted everywhere, nobody wanted any rescues in this facility.

Power rubbed his mouth and his face as he sat down.

The cruel soldier leaned over him and grabbed his wrists.

He put hand coves on him and fastened them tightly.

Power was unreasonably tolerant; this soldier was abusing his power.

But, as Spike once said, his unusual ability was to take a large amount of pain without giving in; his will power was also unusually strong.

The rain was covering his fur and making him filthier then he was.

"General Tai ordered us to clean him up." the other soldier said. "Pushing him in the mud will only get The General angrier. Besides now he's all wet and covered in it."

The cruel soldier nodded. "I just wanted my share, but fine, clean him up if you think he deserves it."

With that the other soldier allowed that person to leave in particular.

There was still a good amount of security there, but the one who spoke out against the beating seemed sympathetic towards Power.

"Here, take this." the hedgehog said, giving him a towel and taking him out of the rain.

He whispered in his ear as he acted like he was giving him another towel. "I think what you're doing is completely right, I commemorate your bravery against this empire and if I had the courage I'd join you."

"Come on you dog!" the soldier said, trying to cover up what he'd just said.

Power's eyes were still sunk, and sat down on the base floor with the men watching him like a hawk.

End chapter


	20. Chapter 20: The Space Between Futures

Chapter 20: The Space Between Futures – Future 1

"Alright child, are you ready to put yourself second to the well being of this planet? Or not? It's your choice." Amadeus said.

Marty had sadly already made up his mind, he felt like his heart was ripped out, to imagine never existing and living at the same time, being raised differently, becoming a different person.

But he'd taken that risk in the first place, so he knew what he had to do.

"Amadeus, I'll help you gather the chaos emeralds…" said Marty. "But…If one of us has to die…please find a way to tell my Dad not to worry."

Amadeus looked like he understood the heaviness of it all, and pulled out the stone. "This stone will have to be destroyed after we're finished with it, but for now it will prove useful."

The cloaked figure took Marty's shoulder and laid the time stone in his hand.

in a second Marty saw a swirl in his eyes, in front of him were vibrant colors of different shades and shapes, then he saw small flashes of other's lives, both good and bad and some of them of people he'd never even known.

He suddenly found himself standing in a crowd of people.

They were cursing and yelling and calling out in hate, there was a huge platform in front of them.

Amadeus pushed Marty backwards. "Don't move at all."

Both of them had arrived in Future 1. (The following day after the last chapter)

The people were all hedgehogs, soldiers to be sure, they were Blake's men, and most of them were angry and aggressive.

Marty and Amadeus were being overlooked by the commotion, but it wouldn't be long before their attention was grabbed.

Amadeus pulled Marty's hand insensitively, hiding behind one of the sandbags.

The area was full off free space and there were about a hundred or more in the crowd, all a lot more relaxed.

While others were posted around.

There was a platform in front of them, metal with slits in the bottom…and the most terrifying thing of all was the thirteen foot high…noose.

Marty immediately recognized this. "This is the time I came from…there going to hang a freedom fighter."

The boy had tears in his eyes and wanted so badly to react.

Amadeus sat there quietly…watching. "There is nothing we can do, we can't interfere anymore or risk upsetting the already unstable balance. What plays out here, plays out here, if we're lucky, this future won't come to be."

Marty was shaking in anticipating and fear of what might happen next, he kept hearing. "Hang the dog!" and "no more renegades or fighters! Let our treats be vanquished!"

The soldiers had half hated Blake's rule, but some of them had channeled their hate on the ones trying to fight him.

All the angry screaming became cheers as Tai took the floor.

He approached the front of the platform.

People were calling out "General Tai!" and "The man of the people!" and other complimentary words, but Tai did not like receiving them.

"Hello citizens of Blake's world." Tai spoke out, the crowd silent. "We are here today, to witness a regrettable offense to this cause. I am to make decisions in the supreme commander's stead, he is not able to at the moment for personal reasons. Now…later today General Shadow and I are to engage in combat for a final choice to be made on the way this country will be led, but as for this decision, I am to commence the execution."

Tai signaled his men, and they brought out the prisoner.

Marty's heart suddenly dropped…the one about to be executed…was Jewels.

Her head was covered in scars and her eyes barely able to stay open; she was being escorted by ruthless men.

"MOTHER!!" Marty could not help but yell out.

Amadeus screeched in anger. "This boy's going to the psyche ward later; I just wanted to see the prisoner executed."

He began assuring the aroused soldiers that Marty had lost his mind and was handling him roughly, shoving Marty's hands behind his back.

"Keep quiet." Amadeus whispered in his ear.

When they all were again at Tai's attention, Marty panicked; trying to get away from Amadeus and to Jewels.

Amadeus slapped him upside the head.

"Are you STUPID, this future may not come true anyway; more interference will only cause more rifts." he whispered.

Slowly Jewels was taken up to the platform, set next to the rope.

Tai looked sympathetically back at her, as if to tell her he didn't wish this fate for her.

There was sadness in her eyes…

"Jewels Sarah Mathews has been charged with fractionation with the freedom fighters, aiding the enemy, creating technology and devises for the enemy, and the list goes on." Tai said. "Therefore, she is charged with high treason, and according to, "The Mighty Accord" The law The Supreme Commander has set forth for our world and nation to follow, she is to be executed, though I choose to do so humanly and without pain."

Jewels seemed lost and emotionless, the color faded from her cheeks.

"You're allowed to make a statement if you wish…" Tai said compassionately.

End chapter


	21. Chapter 21: Future 2

Chapter 21: Future 2:

Blake walked out in the rain as the night sky taunted him, stars twinkling above him as the grass moved smoothly.

He began kicking it apart with the soles of his shoes and running away.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!" Blake couldn't help but utter.

He fell to his knees screaming and yelling and cursing in anger.

And now…for one of the first times in Blake's life…he began to cry.

Tears were falling down his face, dripping from his cheeks and flowing to the grassy muddy floor.

He stared at the ground with his gasping breath.

The cold air tinted his fur and chills went down his quills.

"He could have been so much more!!" Blake screeched. "I…I wanted a legacy! I WANTED MY NAME REMEMBERED! I wanted…I…I wanted…"

The raindrops seemed to echo when they hit the floor, his hands were chafed from the scars and his torso red with wounds.

He closed his eyes and tore into the ground…

The Supreme Commander, warrior or the world, conqueror of the planet, ruler and dictator over all…was weeping in sadness…he had been defeated…

Not by sword or stone, not by armies or capture, but by the strong will of his own son.

He slowly got on his feet, slipping a little on the dew.

His head bowed in defeat and shame…until he noticed something.

The water from the clouds were washing the stains on his gloves to the floor.

He starred into his hands…

He was covered in Tai's blood from his wounds and Spike's son's and even his own…

Tai could be alive or dead, he did not know how severe his beating was, and Spike's son was alive when he left him, but not by much.

Blake himself was beginning to loose the adrenalin that numbed the pain, but this was not what shocked him.

The redness dripping down his jaw and his fur…and he saw it run down his gloves meeting with the raindrops as they impacted against the ground.

"…" Blake's eyes quivered…he began remembering thoughts and emotions he'd thought he'd blocked out years ago…the anger was fading away and his deep red eyes were not so focused…

He trembled…

"How…how could I have seen past the blood on my hands…?" Blake said…figuratively and literally. "I…I don't understand."

His breath was hot and vibrant against the chilling cold.

His fur was drenched in water.

"All this time…all the planning…if it was for nothing…it…" Blake was having trouble speaking through his teary voice. "The cost was so great…it…it cost me everything and what do I have to show for it? …maybe this is not my son's fault…maybe the years of taking and never giving back…is what took my legacy from me…maybe it's…maybe it's my selfishness that took my wife from me…my son from me…my general from me…everybody I truly cared for…how could I have forgotten I cared for them?!"

Blake felt unbearable guilt; you could see it in his eyes.

"selfishness…I realize it now…trying to give him a name, and trying to immortalize my name…it's not something to go searching for…a title is something you earn…why else would my son have been known as The Great Warrior when I was known only as a dictator…maybe it could have been different…" Blake said sadly. "I understand now, it's nobody's fault…but mine…what a shame I had to find out now…when the damage has already been done…when…I have already caused so much pain…"

Blake stood there standing as the cold uncomforting sound of the rain ran down…the silence haunted him there...but there was nothing left to do but stay with his thoughts now…alone…

End chapter


	22. Chapter 22: Future 1

Chapter 22: Future 1

Marty felt more tension he'd felt all his times close to death…his mother was approaching the stand and he felt a heavy heart and couldn't speak.

The crowd was booing and shouting at her negatively.

"You all may think you're doing what you need to do, well you're wrong!" Jewels said her hands behind her back.

The crowd was silent; they could feel the passion in her voice.

Her eyes drew tears and her expression admirable.

"I was once like you all. an evil being leading the way dealing out death needlessly as a dictator, all cause I wanted a share in the cut. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I GOT?! NOTHING!"

Jewels stopped the sentence for a moment…Amadeus seemed the most attentive to her words.

"What does she mean?" he whispered to Marty.

"She's trying to say…she was once following Spike, hoping she'd get something for it. Spike wasn't a bad person, but he was causing harm and she was involved." Marty said, admiration for Jewels in his tone. "Blake's doing the same things, only a hundred times more and worse."

Amadeus looked taken back a bit by what Marty was saying; something about it impacted him very strongly.

"Blake took this planet by force and made people suffer for no reason but his selfishness, and by the soldier's cooperation, they're doing the same thing she was before she joined the freedom fighters." Marty said.

Jewels continued. "Same thing will happen to you, you may have your fair share now, but what happens when Blake gets board? Who's to say you won't be next!"

A few of the soldiers spoke out in disagreement but ultimately Jewels ignored them with her final statement. "I will die, fighting on the right side. To me, it's better then living on the wrong side. so, go ahead, hang me, but you're only hurting yourselves, I'll leave you with these words to remember, you're under his thumb while the fighters have free will even in being hunted, so remember this when you go home and try to live with yourself. Freedom is worth fighting for."

The soldiers started up booing again, and cheering as the soldier came up with the rope.

And slowly fastened it around her neck.

"That's it I can't take it anymore!" Marty said, about the run through the crowd.

"If he makes another hole in time who knows what could occur next." Amadeus had no choice now, Marty was hysterical.

He ran up to him and as Marty was rushing through the crowd, he punched him in the back of the head, and grabbed him.

"NO! SHE'S MY MOTHER!!"

The crowd was too distracted to care.

Tai took a last look at Jewels sadly, and prepared to execute her in Blake's place.

But…in the mists of all the awful horrible things going on, right as Jewels was about to meet an awful fate, something happened.

A gush of wind flew by faster then the eye could see, colors of blue running by them and making them jump.

It was Sonic!

Sonic chuckled. "I don't think so buddy." he said to Tai with a competitive look.

He'd snapped the rope just as the floor dropped and had Jewels in his arms.

Jewels looked incredibly uncomfortable with Sonic holding her. "YOU IDIOT! DO YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH?!"

All the soldiers aimed their guns instinctively, about to fire, when a few of them were bashed across the face from behind.

Amy was there, barring her hammer in delight. "Don't even think about harming My Sonic buster!"

Amy with her straightforward attitude launched herself in the air with her hammer, bashing them left and right.

Sonic ran through the crowd as soldiers fired blindly at the blue stream.

Amy was also being fired at, bullets were flying everywhere.

"SHADOW!" Tai grunted. "YOU CAN'T IGNORE THIS ONE!"

Shadow was standing out of sight, witnessing the calamity caused by Sonic and Amy.

Shadow grunted in annoyance. "Fine, but only because I haven't had a challenge in a while."

The red and black hedgehog threw off the cape that signified his generalship, and began running equally as fast, heading for Sonic.

Marty pushed Amadeus back. "I have to go after her! Shadow will kill her if he gets close enough!"

Amadeus smacked him. "Sonic won't let it happen.'

Marty looked alarmed. "But-"

"Sonic, won't, let, it, happen." Amadeus insisted.

Marty buried his head in his hands.

"It's alright; let's get out of the line of fire." Amadeus sounded more apathetic towards him, dragging him away into the bushes again.

Amy followed behind the two fast paced hedgehogs, not nearly as fast.

Back on the run, Sonic and Shadow were going full speed, colors of blue and red intertwined as they broke the sound barrier.

Though Jewels' screaming in panic was not helping anything.

Sonic turned facing Shadow; then put Jewels on her feet.

"Go back to the base." Sonic said.

Jewels nodded and went on her way as fast as she could.

"You really are a wild card aren't you Shadow." Sonic said. "General of the non-free world huh?"

Shadow smirked. "I think that title's foolish, but I have my own intentions."

"Like getting your memory back?" Sonic said.

Shadow looked surprised.

"Eggman let you down so you go to the next person who offers you an empty promise? Shadow you just never seem to learn do you?" Sonic said. "Why don't you give up this charade?"

Shadow played no heed to Sonic's talk, and Sonic saw his gloved hands lighting up red.

"Oh no you don't." Sonic laughed, enthralled with the fight that was coming.

Sonic jumped up and headed in for a kick.

Shadow suddenly vanished and disappeared, then reappeared behind him.

Sonic ducked as Shadow attempted a punch.

Shadow jerked himself frontward, laying his feet into the ground and jumping upwards.

Sonic plunged forward, smacking heads with Shadow.

The two fought magnificently, both so similar in strength and different in style.

Shadow's gloves were still glowing red, suggesting he could use a Chaos Blast at any moment and Sonic knew this.

There was something completely striking about the way these two fought.

They were tearing up the scenery like it was through paper, the battle stances and strikes all so precise, both were doing a number on the opponent and the ground and trees.

"A little rusty huh Shadow?" Sonic said, egging him on as he struck him right in the face.

Shadow looked very displeased, but smiled competitively.

End chapter


	23. Chapter 23: Future 2

Chapter 23: Future 2

Spike's son lay in his bed, fast asleep.

Spike was passed out next to his side, laying his quills into the carpet waiting for him to awake.

Laura looked at the pair of them with concern, little Sarah was sleeping in her room.

It was morning now, but the night before was so devastating, none of them got very much sleep.

Laura laid her hand on Spike's shoulder to wake him up.

She shook him gently. "Spike?"

Spike's tired eyes lifted up slowly, moving towards his son.

"Is he alive?" he jumped up, looking towards her.

Laura's eyes were red from lack of sleep. "Yes, Slade's fine, I staid up all night to make sure. He's just tired."

"Did he say anything to you?" Spike said, urgency embedded in his voice.

"No, but he opened his eyes a couple of times, I did my best to patch up his throat, had a village doctor come by while you were asleep." said Laura. "Sarah's still asleep, I told her to play in her room when she wakes up."

Spike just starred at the face of his son, worry on his face.

"Spike, who was that? And why did he do this to Slade?" Laura said.

"…my father." Spike said.

Laura gasped, and moved back. "Did you send him here?!"

"Of course not." Spike said sincerely. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt our son."

"Power said before that you once tried to harm the ones close to you..." Laura said.

Spike looked bewildered. "None of those instances were my own choice; each time I could not control my anger or own mind, the last time I'd been fused with the fake emerald. Laura, you sound like you blame me for this. You knew Blake was my father when you married me; we went over the events in my past before. What's gotten into you? You know how much I care about you and the kids."

Laura looked very uneasy. "I'm sorry, this is all just so horrible! What if Slade doesn't wake up again!"

Spike stood up and put his arms around her for comfort, as she buried her head in his chest sadly. "Don't talk like that, Slade will be fine. My father is wicked and cruel, but he isn't rational, he wasn't trying to kill him he was trying to fire a warning shot towards me. If he comes back I won't hesitate, he'll never come near you or the kids again."

Spike was firm but kind, the two of them were very impacted by the severity of the situation.

Slade had bandages around his jaw and throat and some along his leg where he'd been dropped, he was well mended though, and he'd had stitches as well.

Spike moved Laura backwards as if to say something. "Laura, did the doctor say anything about what to do for him?"

"He said if he woke up to make sure he had enough water and that he couldn't eat anything solid. He also said to watch him closely and that with how badly his throat was damaged he may never speak a word again…" she tried not to tear up saying the sentence.

Spike crept up closer to Slade again, feeling his son's hand, and rubbing his son's head.

Feeling Spike's hand, Slade's eyes opened.

Laura and Spike were astonished, and overjoyed.

Spike hugged him fondly. "Son! Son are you all right?"

Laura stared with amazement, her blue eyes set off in happiness watching the two.

Slade tried to speak, and Spike and Laura listened with full attention.

"F-father?" he said, a horrible chocked sound to his voice, he tried to stretch his vocal cords, but it was the only sound he could create.

It was scratchy and angry sounding and all completely unintentional.

Laura put her head down; happy he was alive, but upset about this.

Slade and Spike shifted their heads in Laura's direction.

"Sweetheart…can I see you for a moment?" Laura asked.

"Its ok son, you just rest." Spike said, getting up to talk to Sarah.

The two hedgehogs left the room and stepped into the hallway.

Laura's voice was hushed. "Spike, the doctor also said if he could speak, that it would be very rough."

"It can always heal, can't it?" Spike said.

The pink hedgehog shook her head. "No, it can't."

Spike was infuriated, putting his foot down against the wooden floor.

"Spike, we're lucky he can speak at all." Laura said, trying to calm him down. "Slade's throat has been torn up. But at least he appears to have the ability to distinguish different tones to his voice, even if it's permanently scratchy and angry; at least we can understand him."

"But he's so young, how can he understand what happened at all?" Spike said.

Laura looked disappointed, not at Spike, but at the fate of her son. "I know he's young, but we're still here, and that's a lot more then we had growing up. He's going to need us now, so you need to keep your anger to yourself for a while, show him the security you've always shown me, you're his father."

"But my father did this to him! My son can never speak normally again!" Spike growled. "This is my son and I couldn't protect him!"

Laura slapped him across the face; Spike looked at her with confusion.

"You're not listening to me. Spike I'm angry too, but if you go on a pity trip our kids are not going to be able to cope with this, don't you know I need you now too?" said Laura.

"I'm sorry Laura, you're right. I just have a lot of bad memories with my father and I was hoping I could keep you and the kids away from it." Spike said. "But please, don't smack me again, I know you're upset, but this is not the time for fighting."

Laura nodded her head in agreement. "You're right, I went way to far I'm sorry too. I just hope our boy will be all right after this."

End chapter


	24. Chapter 24: Future 1

Chapter 24: Future 1

Amadeus took it upon himself to speak to Marty.

"Listen boy, I understand your dilemma here," Amadeus spoke kindly. "you want to interfere very badly, you see a mistake being made…you can't help but long to help the ones you care about…"

Marty was inhaling and exhaling very quickly, bent on the ground like a terrified little boy.

He was forced to act as an adult, use the knowledge he had to accomplish his mission.

But despite his maturity, he was still young and inexperienced.

Amadeus bent down and put his gloved hand on Marty's shoulder. "You were picked for this mission for more reasons then you said, weren't you?"

Marty was still very shocked and worried, but he managed to answer him. "Yes…yes it was because I'm from the next generation, a kid HAD to go back in time or risk a situation very dreadful. If my dad went, since he was important, he could have caused time to implode, this way the risk was smaller."

"It's a large burden on your shoulders, I know, but remember boy, you were entrusted with a duty. Despite what you see happening around you, you must do what was asked of you." Amadeus said very wisely.

Marty took a deep breath and sighed.

"Fine…but how can we when we don't know where the chaos emeralds are?" he said.

"Blake DEFINANTLY will be keeping them somewhere guarded." said Amadeus.

Amadeus took a look at the buildings near by. "And this looks just like where he'd hide them, come on, we're going to search the buildings, this looks like a prisoner camp to me."

Amadeus pulled Marty up on his feet.

He grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and placed him down on the ground roughly.

Marty looked annoyingly towards him, but despite that, he did figure out how strong he was.

In the meantime, Jewels had a disappointed look in her eyes.

She'd just been rescued by Sonic and she didn't have to worry about Shadow for the moment, but there was something tugging at her not to obey Sonic's orders.

"How can I let him know I'm alive? Rex was always so distracted by me, by the sheer amount of people rescued alone, since they thought I've been dead, I can tell that. It's obvious he focuses better without me," she said, her heart sinking deeply. "I need to start thinking of him and not myself. My son was so young when I was taken, I hardly know him at all, he has to be older by now and if those rumors are true he's grown up with a lot of importance."

Jewels smiled. "I have enough to remember him by anyway, that goof ball; he sure made my life a lot better."

She had a soft beating heart and a peaceful mind, wandering in and out of memories of her life, all the good points, all the nice thoughts.

Her hair flowed in the wind as the uneasy sunrise accented the sky.

"Jewels,"

Jewels turned her head in haste.

"I…I was going to our tree…" Rex said.

There firmly standing; was a tree.

Its branches shook gently in the wind, bouncing up and down.

And in the center was a carved, 'J + R' Engraved with a heart.

"Jewels, do you really think you're a 'Distraction' to me?" Rex said. "Jewels, you're not a distraction, if anything, you KEEP ME focused, I wouldn't know how to live without you."

"So, you knew I was alive?" Jewels asked.

"Heck no, I tried not to scream when I saw you there, then, I heard you talking like that." Rex said.

"Rex you have to understand, I…" Jewels' voice was chafed and her eyes were tired from lack of sleep, she had scars on her back and her clothes were tattered, her arm was in a sling, still, she looked as beautiful as the day Rex first saw her.

Rex's eyes sunk down low. "Do you remember what I said to you, on the hilltop all those years ago…?"

Jewels shivered; there were butterflies in her stomach, even now.

She hadn't realized it, but she'd strayed where she and Rex considered their favorite place, where Rex admitted his feelings for her.

The sun was dimly shining, and the air was cold and tender.

Jewels didn't know what to say now.

Rex moved up to her and laid a kiss on her cheek.

Jewels let out a gleeful laugh, and hung her arm around him.

"I missed you so much!" Jewels cried. "I thought I was going to die back there…I was left alone for years and years…left to linger, all I could think about was you."

"You have no idea how much I missed you, I too thought you were dead," Rex said sweetly. "And I never forgot about you, it's so unreal, my mind still tells me this is all a dream."

It felt like days had passed, just holding on to each other.

"I told myself that faith was for fools, I honestly believed it," Jewels said, falling to her knees. "I know now…that faith is very important, I can't believe I'm seeing you, my heart Is beating fast. I love you so much."

Rex looked at her happily, sinking to his knees to meet her eye level.

"I love you too." he said happily.

End chapter


	25. Chapter 25: Future 1

Chapter 25: Future 1

Shadow the hedgehog rose from a ditch that was just now created, Sonic was on his tail.

His hand was glowing red, while he bore a cocky smile.

Shadow and Sonic began fighting violently; there were scars of a newly-made battlefield everywhere.

Neither of them were even breaking a sweat, but they were both harming each other a lot in the process.

Shadow was fighting vigorously, claiming punch after punch.

While Sonic was fighting with more strategy, using a lot of kicking motions and maneuvers.

It was easy to tell that the hedgehogs' skills had advanced a great deal.

Sonic stopped, and Shadow hesitated, sensing Sonic was about to say something.

"All right Shadow, can we cut it out with the games?" Sonic said, still smiling. "You and I have been fighting since who knows when, not that I don't enjoy the challenge, but don't you think it's getting a little old?"

Shadow crossed his arms, annoyed. "Yes, it is a little old."

"Look, all I want is to keep this planet's people safe, is that such a bad thing? What's with you Shadow? Why do you want this crazy guy ruling the planet anyway?" Sonic said.

"I never said I wanted him to rule the planet," said Shadow.

"Yeah, but you sure act like it," Sonic protested. "What's he got on you anyway? He stronger then you or something?"

"Nobody is stronger then me," Shadow said with a grown. "I am the Ultimate Lifeform."

"Then stop taking orders from him," said Sonic.

"I…I can't." Shadow said, turning his back to him.

"It's because of the memory thing isn't it?" Sonic said, as if bored of the conversation. "Look, I've already told you what happened, you liked this girl Maria, and to keep a promise you made to her, you stopped the ARK."

"I know that…" said Shadow.

"Then why are you so dead set with getting your memory back?" said Sonic.

"Because I want to remember her! I want to put a face to the name! Do you understand how hard it is to live with nothing but a faded memory haunting you? I want to understand, what is, who it is I Am." said Shadow.

Sonic sighed, figuring nothing was going anywhere.

"All he's thinking about is himself; not the lives of all those innocent people." thought Sonic.

Sonic stepped forward. "Fine Shadow, lets fight, again and again and again, while you wait pointlessly for some lowlife to break his promise."

Shadow was very angry at the way Sonic was confronting him.

His fists glowed, a deep red, admitting heat.

"CHAOS!!!!" Shadow shouted.

…Sonic had less then a second to think, Shadow was about to use Chaos Blast, and kill him right then and there with a powerful ray of chaos energy, a huge explosion.

Sonic, so quickly you couldn't even see him grab it, took out his Power-Ring.

The Power-Ring gleamed bright, and before Shadow could say, 'Blast.' to use the ability, Sonic plunged forward, grabbed Shadow's glowing red hand, and forced Shadow to grip the Power-Ring.

Now, Power-Rings were very mysterious things.

Like the Chaos Emeralds, they held a great deal of energy within them, and though a smaller amount, they usually gave Sonic adrenalin, and a sort of electric energy to boost his speed.

However, only Sonic was known to be able to use them, nobody else could access their power, but they always did what Sonic wanted them to do.

Shadow couldn't think of finishing his sentence, he was fully distracted now.

The Power-Ring was having a weird effect on him; a shock of pure energy ran though him like a lightning bolt to a metal rod.

Sonic jolted backwards, knowing exactly what was happening.

The Chaos Energy that Shadow was about to use and the Ring's energy, were clashing against each other.

And to add to that, Shadow wore two rings around his gloves that were ideal for controlling his energy and abilities, and were absorbing and rejecting the new energy.

Shadow let out a yell and fell to the floor in agony; the energy was harming him dearly.

The ring dropped to the floor, fully drained.

Shadow's rings were beaming brightly, almost to the point of causing blindness.

Shadow instinctively tossed both of the gold rings off to reduce the pain, and they stopped admitting light and energy.

Shadow was on his knees, still in pain.

Sonic leaned down, and slowly picked up the rings.

"I hate to get rough with you Buddy, but you had me running through hoops for a long time," said Sonic. "Without your rings, you'll have a lot of uncontrolled energy flowing through you, sorry pal, but if you try using your nifty abilities again, you're going to have a lot less energy and abilities, or too much for your body to handle."

Shadow growled, but said nothing and lowered his head ashamed of defeat.

End chapter


	26. Chapter 26: Future 2

Chapter 26: Future 2

Anna was out in the cold, crying against a tree. "Why didn't she believe me when I said it was a mistake?!"

Anger was vigilant in her voice. "I can't help who I am, what I am. He should have been more careful! She…she obviously loved him more then she did me."

Nothing was to be done about it; in her eyes everything that had just occurred could not be helped.

I mean, it wasn't like she could change the past.

"I…I'll make her pay for this. So long as I live I swear…I will make her pay."

"I see…"

Anna turned her head, not expecting anybody to be listening.

It was dark out now, and she was in a pretty quiet place.

"Who are you?" Anna said, wiping away the tears, anger still in her eyes.

"That's right, you don't know yet," he said.

Out from the shadows, approached a fox.

Blue in color, wearing a white jacket, his fur messy, with a fang reaching out from his mouth.

A few of his teeth were chipped, and his gloves were torn.

"My name is Tim," he said.

Anna didn't realize who this was.

This was Flame's brother, he used to be very confused and angry, but it seemed time had changed him, in a bad way.

"Why are you here?" Anna said.

"Lets skip the questions, I can help you, that's all there is to it," he said in a calm voice.

"So, you killed your father?" said Tim.

She glared at him. "How…how did you know that?"

"Lets call it a talent of mine," said Tim. "You see, I was once insignificant, and then I found purpose. A fellow you might know as Blake."

"Never heard of him." said Anna.

Tim laughed. "That's the first time I ever heard THAT before,"

"What are you getting at anyway?" Anna said suspiciously.

"Like I said, I want to help you. As a teenager I was approached by a messenger for Blake, he gave me a unique ability, and a purpose. I now work under him, in this future, correcting mistakes. Sadly I do not have the power of time-travel as you will." said Tim.

"WHAT?!" said Anna.

"Stop thinking I'm a nut job!" said Tim. "Hear me out. You have been selected from this time, to aid his mission of changing the past and future, you are the only one who can effectively do so."

"You're screwy, you know that?" said Anna. "I bet you don't even have an ability."

Tim sighed. "Alright, think something."

Anna blinked, a few moments went by.

"You're thinking of your mother's reaction, the look on her face. You're angry with her," said Tim.

"How did you?" Anna said, pausing before finishing the sentence.

"I can reach into other' minds, and see and know what they're thinking," said Tim. "You have abilities too; do you know why your tail killed your father? It's because the energy within you is unstable, if you come with me, I will show you how to control it."

Anna looked down for a second. "What's the catch?"

"Funny, that you'd know there is one," said Tim. "As of right now, your energy is not filtered through one source; chaos energy is both positive and negative. To have its full potential, you will need to work through its negative effect."

"I don't understand…" said Anna.

"In other words, you're mother works through positive, and you were born with negative, but your emotions have been allowing slight amounts of positive energy to come out." said Tim. "It would be described as, 'innocence, kindness, and compassion.' You would eliminate those emotions by taking negative, allowing, 'anger, amusement at other's expense, vanity and a strong lust for power.' You're a very lucky girl; you have the chance to eliminate these emotions, while I'm stuck with them haunting me."

"You want to make me heartless?!" Anna looked outraged.

Tim took a moment before answering. "Think about it this way, what has caring for others gotten you? Your mother abandoned you just today didn't she? Wouldn't it be nice not to feel those feelings, wouldn't it be nice to eliminate that caring nature? So you'll never be hurt again?"

Anna slammed her fist against the tree, and turned her back, letting out frustration.

As she did this, her tail rubbed against it, and the tree started to give off a green glow, and wither away till nothing was left.

Anna didn't expect this, but this tree…it in a way, reminded her of what she had done.

Her father, like the tree, died the sad unhappy way.

She was sad and unhappy when it happened.

She didn't mean to do it, but Angie thought she did.

"…what do I have to do?" she said in a sad voice.

Tim smiled evilly.

End chapter


	27. Chapter 27: Future 2

Chapter 27: Future 2

Power the hedgehog, came in through Spike's front door.

"Uncle Power! Uncle Power!" Spike's daughter cried, running up to him and hugging him.

Power's quills had grown longer; he still wore those goggles over his head.

He was stronger and taller now, and his voice was significantly deeper.

He was standing in Spike's living room.

Little Sarah's eyes were large and sad; the poor girl didn't understand all that had happened fully.

Spike closed the door quietly behind him and Laura as they left the room.

Spike and Power looked at one another.

"I came as soon as I heard," said Power, in his deep kind voice.

Spike sat down on his sofa, his wife beside him, Power on the chair facing them.

"Blake's back," said Spike.

"I can't believe he survived, we should have known Tai would stay on his side even after all he'd done." said Power.

"He nearly killed my son." Spike said, seriousness in his voice.

Little Sarah came up to Laura, lying under her arm.

"Sladey's not feeling well." Little Sarah said sadly.

Spike clenched his fists; nothing made him madder then seeing his family upset.

"Its ok Sarah, he'll be ok after he rests." Laura said, comforting her daughter.

Spike barred his teeth, lowering his angry eyes.

"Laura, why don't you take Sarah to Slade, I need to speak with Power alone." said Spike.

Laura nodded, and did as Spike asked.

Once they left, he felt comfortable talking to Power.

"My family is not safe with that monster alive," said Spike.

"No doubt," said Power. "He's mad."

"I'm going to need your help, I want to find him." said Spike.

Power looked down. "I will help you as best I can brother, but, you do realize what we will have to do when we find him."

"Yes…" Spike said.

"Are you ready to go back to that? You and I set down that life long ago; it will be even harder now that you have a family waiting for you when you're done." Power said very wisely.

"I can't allow my wife and kids to live in fear, my girl is afraid of everyone, my wife is beside herself, and my son can never speak the same way again. I must put an end to it." said Spike.

"But Spike, the only way to do that is to kill your own father," said Power.

"He's not my father, not anymore, that stopped when he let my mother die. I will never forget what he did, and did so again to my son. I will do as I must." Spike said. "Are you behind me?"

"You know I am, my brother," said Power.

With that, Spike stepped up to the door of his son's bedroom, and opened it.

"Laura, can I see you for a moment?" Spike said.

Laura walked out, Power got on his feet.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Laura, I can't let this monster terrorize our children anymore," said Spike.

"So what you're saying is; you want to face him." said Laura.

Spike nodded his head, looking very determined.

"I want to go with you," said Laura.

"No, Slade and Sarah will need you," said Spike. "And…I don't want you to see me when I take him down…"

Laura understood Spike's meaning, he used to be a very ruthless fighter.

"Alright…but," Laura's eyes were very vengeful, and angry, something Spike never saw in her before. "Make sure he feels it; make him feel the pain my son felt when he tore into his throat."

Her eyes started to draw tears, as she held on to Spike, burying her head in his chest, squeezing his arm.

There was a stutter in his voice, as if trying not to cry along with her. "No Laura, then we'd be no better then he is. …I refuse to let myself become like him again. But this I promise you, he will not harm us anymore."

End chapter


	28. Chapter 28: Future 1

Chapter 28: Future 1

Flame stepped outside, thinking a few things over in his mind.

Mint followed, standing close to him.

"You're going ahead with project F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M, aren't you?" she said sadly.

"I can't just do nothing," said Flame. "I have to think about what will happen if we keep this up. Every day we loose more and more fighters, taking this risk could save them all."

"You do know this planet's had a history before us don't you?" Mint said. "The fighters tried pulling out everyone at the same time. Do you know what happened? They lost; Blake took down the lead fighter, and shot the loyal ones."

"Yeah, but they didn't have me," Flame grinned.

"You know as well as I do, you will die no matter what," said Mint. "I don't want that to happen to you! I already lost my brother, and my best friend…I don't want to loose you next."

Flame smiled. "You know, I never really noticed before, you turned into a beautiful young woman,"

Mint started blushing, not expecting the compliment.

"Yes Mint, I know I will die," Flame said very seriously. "But it will be worth it in the end, we can finally stop Blake, the way we should have done all those years ago."

"You remember what happened to Trixie when she thought Ken died? The same will happen to the ones who care about you, it won't just be your sacrifice, we'll have to live without you too," said Mint.

Flame smiled. "You're strong, all of you are, but this is something I have to do,"

Mint sighed, knowing there was not a way to change his mind.

He returned to the freedom fighter base.

A lot of people were being assembled in the largest underground room.

There was a crowd of people talking with one another.

There was a large table set up, long enough for a hundred people to sit at, fold-up chairs at every corner.

It was a magnificent gathering, people from all twenty-six sectors.

The leader of every sector, (Aside from Flame and Sonic) were already seated.

Along with the technical officers, and other highly ranked officers.

Mint was to sit as the main medical officer's seat.

Sector V, (Which was Sonic's sector) was the highest ranked sector.

There were mostly hedgehogs, a few foxes, a few lynxes and a raccoon or two.

The leaders were always either very strong in appearance, or very intelligent in appearance.

The leaders all wore gold belts that they only wore for meetings.

Flame stepped out to the front of the room, to address all of them. "I appreciate all of you taking time from each of your sectors to come here,"

"Ou' betta' have a ood' explanation for this mate'," the leader of sector G spoke out. (He was a big burley grizzly bear with a grey stripe across his head.) "Oy' ad' ta abandoned a good mission for this fancy meetin',"

"I understand that, but what I'm about to speak with you all about is of very high importance," said Flame.

"Then why is High Commander Sonic not here?" The head officer of Sector Y spoke. (A female wolf with her hair streaked upwards, a few scars on her hand, wearing a black leather jacket.)

"He went on a very important mission that could not wait, it was a matter of life and death," said Flame. "If you let me explain I will get to all of your questions after."

Flame had his hands behind his back pacing the crowd. "I am initiating project F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M, now for those of you unfamiliar with the project's details; this operation will consist of a large amount of all of our best officers, excluding many of the commanders for assurances in case we fail. I myself will be the diversion; many of you know of my ability, well, I am going to use all of its capabilities. I will burn down the metal exterior of Blake's command central. while I have distracted them, two teams will go to the prisoner centrals and break out a good deal of captured freedom fighters, the rest of the warriors will then leave my command, and follow Sonic's as you all run in to face Blake himself, Captain Tai, and General Shadow,"

A technical officer interrupted. "What do you mean by, 'leave your command' do you mean to say you're leaving your duties as head of sector F and leader of breaking and entering?"

"well, I will ultimately not have the ability to lead you in the way needed, there is a great chance after this mission I will be injured or killed," Flame said.

There was an uproar of speaking; they were completely taken off guard.

End chapter


	29. Chapter 29: Future 1

Chapter 29: Future 1

Dr. Eggman had his feet up. "This is all well and good that you're putting yourself on the line, but what of the technical support?"

"You'll need to do your job Doctor, taking out all communication devises," said Flame. "While the medical officers will see to the wounded with the two teams that go in,"

"You seem to have thought this out well," the leader of Sector G said. (A very strong looking hedgehog, with a glass eye and a deep voice.) "There is the obvious price we will pay if we fail however, our best warriors will probably die, Blake is merciless."

"We don't even know if Blake is alive," said Flame. "Sonic saw him enter a warp-zone, for all we know he could be completely out of the picture; in that case we'd need to only face Shadow and Tai,"

The leader of sector G laughed. "ONLY Shadow and Tai? Tai can be pinned but Shadow can not, or did you not remember his Chaos Blast during the first Fighter war, our warriors could die the second they enter the room,"

"That's a risk we're going to have to take," said Flame.

"There's a bigger problem…that's the base Gismo's posted at, he's a walking death machine since Blake took over his programming," said Mint.

Mint didn't let on, but she was secretly afraid for Gizmo's safety…even if he had been turned because of his programming.

"HA!" Dr. Eggman laughed. "He'll be easy enough with my brilliant knack for robot data and machinery,"

Flame looked annoyed of his interruption. "I have every detail of this worked out, I just need your support."

Everyone continued to talk amongst one another.

Ten of the leaders, all placed a ring on the table.

The rings each had the letter of the sector on it; they signified their allegiance and their support.

Flame and Sonic too had rings, but since they were the instigators they were often the ones asking for support, it was also a symbol of their authority.

One by one, the rings were set on the table.

"I think this is folly, but Sector G gives you its support," the hedgehog said.

Mint looked very saddened, she knew of the cost this single mission would take.

Flame looked enthusiastic. "Good, I will bid the commanders of Sector W, R, and O, to stay out of the mission incase it fails, I will ask these commanders to be thoroughly debriefed and informed of goings on in every sector, we will plan on initiating the plan in one month and two days from today, that will give each sector enough time to have everything ready. Dismissed,"

Everyone saluted Flame and put their rings back on.

"A month and two days…" Mint thought to herself. "That's all the time I have left before Gizmo…and Flame die…"

End chapter


	30. Chapter 30: Future 2

Chapter 30: Future 2

Marty and Amadeus were running across a hallway in a dark room.

"I KNEW this was where he'd hide the emeralds," said Amadeus.

"What do you mean? This is just an empty holding base! There's not one guard in sight, we walked in easy," Marty said, getting a little tired from all the running.

"That's exactly the point, this was meant to look abandoned. There's a hidden base inside here I just know it, there's a prisoner camp inside along with a secret room," Amadeus said with an enthusiastic laugh.

Marty felt this strange presence after hearing his laugh…it sounded familiar to him.

"Are you sure we haven't met before?" Marty asked.

Amadeus stopped, and turned quite serious. "I suppose you might as well know, we have met before. But I am a keeper of time; I can't revel myself to you. You probably wouldn't pay any mind anyway, as I've told you before, I am not very important. We met for a few moments really, I doubt you'd even remember,"

Marty couldn't help but get a little suspicious. "Alright, if you say so Amadeus,"

"Now, back to what we were doing. I know these bases well, have seen plenty of them, there should be a prisoner camp on the left, and straight through the wall there should be a secret room," Amadeus said rushing off again.

"How does he know all of this? Did he work under Blake before he started time jumping?" Marty thought to himself. "Could he be a freedom fighter? Or he designed the base? Or does he have another ability I'm not aware of?"

"Alright, I'll go for the prisoner camp, and you go for the emeralds," Marty said happily.

Amadeus smacked his palm to his face. "How many times must I tell you child, we're not to interfere with time,"

Marty sighed sadly. "You'd better be right about this, and my mother better be ok too,"

"Whatever," Amadeus said.

Amadeus looked very pleased, staring at an empty wall.

They'd just run through a long metal hallway, with cobwebs everywhere and broken equipment lying around, stray laser defenses that looked not to be used in a lifetime.

The wall he was staring at was filled with dust and dirt.

It looked to be separating a few other hallways, but Amadeus knew different.

Suddenly, Amadeus felt a chill go down his spine, something he did not expect.

He turned his head and gasped in his throat.

Marty took a few steps back, and realized what had frightened Amadeus so badly.

There, starring with his dead red eyes was Blake the hedgehog.

He was wearing golden rings and golden armor, with a solid gold crown on his head.

His arms were very strong in appearance; he'd gained a significant amount of strength.

His teeth were sharper, his eyes bore no emotion other then hate.

His fur was black and untamed, and in his belt was a magnificent looking gold sword.

"My, who do I have here?" Blake said deeply. "Intruders? You should know better then that,"

Marty growled. "You let a HOUSE fall on me!"

Marty had forgotten that was from the other future, this Blake had no knowledge of this.

"I have never seen you before in my life, vermin!" Blake said angrily.

"I thought you were dead!" said Marty. "It's a shame you're not!"

After hearing the insult, Blake took out his sword.

"Wait!" Amadeus called out.

Blake hesitated, he was about to strike at Marty.

"I want to make a deal with you," Amadeus said.

Marty was shocked. "Are you MAD?! He's the destroyer! You can't even think-"

Marty was shushed before he could finish his sentence.

"I know what I'm doing boy," Amadeus whispered.

Blake was getting impatient. "What kind of deal?"

End chapter


	31. Chapter 31: Future 1

Chapter 31: Future 1

Flame was still walking home; he'd taken a nights sleep outside since it was pretty warm out the day before.

Right now it was pretty clear out, blue skies and white clouds.

He brushed the side of his fur, yawning.

"The search never seems to end," Flame thought to himself. "Maybe I should face the facts; I'm never going to find my brother again,"

"Be careful what you wish for,"

Flame turned his head, and much to his surprise and joy, Tim was right there! He couldn't believe it!

Just as he was about to give him a brotherly hug, Tim pushed him away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Tim said.

Flame didn't know how to take this, there was something very wrong about all of this.

"Tim! I've been looking for you for so long! I have dedicated half my life to finding you, how could you leave me out to dry like that?!" Flame said, coming closer to him.

"Your thoughts are angry," said Tim. "I wonder, the times when I didn't know what you were thinking, if you might have been thinking the same thoughts."

Maybe it was the spiteful way he was speaking, or the fact he just looked angrier, but Flame felt more and more like his little brother had been lost.

"Tim, I don't know what's happened to you, but let's talk this out, help me understand what you've gone though. It's been years Tim! I haven't been there with you, what has happened? Why did you leave without so much as a goodbye?" Flame said sincerely.

They were very close to each other at the moment, a few feet at max.

Tim let out a sarcastic laugh. "I LEFT? What about you leaving me, out in the cold, when our house went up in flames?! Was it me my brother, who betrayed the other?"

Flame stuttered. "I…I'm sorry Tim, I…I didn't realize-"

"NO YOU DIDN'T!" Tim said. "You had plenty of chances to spend time with your 'little brother' but no more. And by the way, in case you didn't know, Vicky's dead."

Flame was horrified. "NO! …she…I thought she just went missing, she can't be…"

"You don't have to be a genus to know she was too much of a loose cannon to make it when Blake was in power. I however, was smarter," said Tim.

"How can you talk like that? She was a great friend of ours!" said Flame.

"YOUR friend, I never wanted anybody's friendship but yours," said Tim. "And I didn't even get that,"

"What about now?" Flame said. "I never wanted you to feel that way. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me, we can always start over,"

Tim thought a moment, his ear twitched a little.

"You think I want an apology?" said Tim. "I made my self known to you for one reason and one reason alone, for a fair warning."

"My one-time brother, I am to kill you, on the day of his choosing," Tim said.

Flame gasped. "You're not serious,"

"Dead serious, pardon the pun," Tim laughed sadistically. "The brother you knew is dead, I'd kill you now if Blake would give me the go ahead, so, enjoy your last days."

Tim pushed him backwards, catching him off guard.

When Flame got up, Tim was gone.

End chapter


	32. Chapter 32: Future 1

Chapter 32: Future 1

Power lay in the new cell he was escorted to, there was not much he could do now.

"Heh, wonder how Rex would deal in these conditions," Power let out a friendly chuckle. "He'd probably be freaking out over the poor eating arrangements."

He smiled, even with his bad circumstances. "I'm glad Jewels is alive, hopefully she'll regain her spunky behavior, it's the only way I see her surviving."

In came two guards, undoing his shackles and dragging him along.

"Why are you taking me from place to place?" Power questioned them. "I don't see the point of all this."

"Shut up dog!" the guard said in an impolite manner. "You're getting what's coming to you."

"And that is?" Power said sarcastically.

The guard gave him a swipe at the face.

"I said shut up!"

Power squinted his eyes, annoyed.

The guards dropped him on a cold floor of a dark room.

There was light enough to see someone, Tai.

"I don't understand why you're protecting him, we went to Spike's supposed location, AND HE WASN'T THERE!" said Tai.

"Like I said, I'd rather die then tell you the truth," said Power. "It just makes me happy for my last act I sent your men on a wild goose chase."

"Oh don't act like you knew, we know that was your Master's previous location. Oh and by the way, your old teammate had lured out Sonic, Shadow's following him right at this moment," Tai batted him once in the gut. "You really are a dog! You're not like me at all, I see now you just follow orders, you have no honor you're seeking, just a meaningless bunch of tasks. Now, I will grant your final wish."

Tai pulled him upwards, rattling his chains.

And all of a sudden, the door to the room fell down, and a crowd was standing there in waiting.

Power was standing on a stage now, with a gallows overhead.

There were people jeering at him and screaming awful things.

He knew now, there was no going back.

"WE HAVE A RENIGADE!" Tai called out.

The people started cheering.

Tai had no more sympathy for Power now, in his eyes he gave him all the benefit of the doubt, and he got Power's sarcastic attitude in return.

"Carry it out," he told one of the guards.

The guards looked pleased, dragging Power to the stand.

"Does he get a statement?" the guard asked Tai.

Tai looked into Power's eyes one last time. "No, he hasn't earned one,"

The crowd got louder as Power looked devastated, but, just when he was about to be executed, a voice spoke out that everyone there immediately recognized.

"NO!" Spike called.

Spike was wearing a leather red jacket with flames on it, and was currently wearing armor to hide his face.

He threw it to the ground, revealing the gnashing red scar across his face.

"I will take his place," Spike said.

The crowd was silent.

Spike looked rougher, and stronger, and his eyes were deep and red.

He walked up the stairs to the wooden stand, and kneeled before Tai.

"Do what you want with me…but please…let him alone..."

Tai's mouth was wide open; he expected to have lost the opportunity to find Spike.

He did not know how Spike got word of this, he tried as hard as he could to find him but all efforts ended in failure.

The crowd was yelling now, unimpressed.

Tai however was very impressed; this to him was a valiant and brave act.

"DO NOT SHOUT EVIL WORDS!" Tai spoke.

The whole crowd listened to him intensely.

"This warrior, though our enemy, has given his life for his comrade, and should not be punished for it," Tai said. "Though he will be treated accordingly, it lowers the integrity of this dynasty, to treat bravery this way."

The soldiers were quiet, keeping their thoughts to themselves.

Power was amazed; his eyes were big and sad.

What could he do now? Was there anything he could do?

"Master…" was all he could say.

Spike's eyes were sunk down; he knew what he would have to do to save Power's life.

Tai personally ran up to Power, and took his bonds off.

"Return to your posts, there will not be an execution today," Tai said.

The soldiers groaned, but obeyed.

"You two are aware; I serve my commander for saving my life. As is the tradition of my old village," Tai said, sounding very by-the-book. "In my eyes, your commander has shown valor and respect for you, the utmost high. Since you will have no commander to return to, I see you as no threat. Do not dishonor his death by going to the Freedom Fighters, or he'll have died for nothing."

Tai pulled him close. "Your commander did something wonderful for you, something my commander I dare say, never would for me. I envy you. You'd better appreciate it."

Power was pulled away, not allowed to say anything to Spike.

End chapter


	33. Chapter 33: Future 2

Chapter 33: Future 2

A good many days had passed since Flame had been threatened by Tim; it was hard to shake those words from his mind.

He was standing in a grassy field, next to a large stone.

He was thinking deeply, in almost a dreamy state.

"What am I going to do about him?" thought Flame. "He doesn't seem like the Tim I know; I wonder what's changed him."

"Hello Jake,"

Flame reacted in surprise, Tim was there again.

"Why are you so taken back to see me? I told you I'd be back when I had the go ahead," said Tim.

Tim got very close to him, as he did before.

And this was when Flame realized the brother he knew was gone.

It was hard to explain, but Flame understood the kind brother he knew, was not inside any longer.

It was upsetting, he felt like his heart had been broken, and the innocence within Tim was lost.

"Ok, you want a fight Tim, you got it," Flame said.

Fire shot out of his fingertips quickly, aimed to not harm Tim too badly, but to stop all of this.

The blaze ran around the field, scorching most of it.

Tim ducked and slid across from the flames quite resiliently, it was clear he'd been trained by someone for combat.

It was a vigorous long battle; though Tim did not take a punch at Flame.

Flame was making an effort not to hurt Tim, controlling his fire the best he could.

The problem was though; since Tai had thrown him into the lake it was a lot harder to control his abilities.

Tim took a deep breathe, and suddenly, Flame lost his balance.

Flame's ability stopped working all together, and he felt like he didn't have control over his own body.

He fell to his knees forcibly, even though Tim had not touched him.

"Goodbye Jake," Tim said, closing his eyes.

Flame held his head, it was hurting badly now.

Like his thoughts were jumbled together, and he started to loose sight of everything.

Tim was using his ability to collapse Flame's very mind.

Any more of this and Tim would cause Flame to die.

"No! Please!" Flame pleaded.

Tim paid no mind to him, and continued.

Flame knew now this was the end.

Out echoed the sound of gunfire.

Tim's eyes opened up, lifeless…

He held his chest tightly, realizing what had just happened; he was now seconds before death.

All he had time for was a last glance at Flame, and one word. "Brother…"

Flame gasped.

Tim had been shot four times in the back; there were gaping holes in his back as Tim fell to the ground, dead.

And to Flame's dismay, he was shot one more time to be sure he was dead.

Gizmo had been standing firmly behind them, watching the fight go on.

He had been the shooter, deploying a weapon from his robotic hand.

Gizmo had been going to the field to rest, it had been his home away from home a long time, and then he saw the two of them fighting…

Gizmo looked down sadly.

What he did to save Flame's life, was very hard for him.

Flame was screaming loudly, and fell on his face next to Tim, pounding on the ground.

After a few quiet moments, Gizmo put his hand on Flame's shoulder.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!" Flame snarled.

"Flame, he…he was going to kill you," said Gizmo. "The one who commissioned him was the one who'd crashed my system so many times. Tim was brainwashed into becoming one of them, there was no getting him back Flame."

Flame could do nothing now.

It was too much for the poor guy's heart to bear.

"I'm sorry Flame," Gizmo said, turning to leave, and give Flame a few moments alone.

End chapter


	34. Chapter 34: Future 2

Chapter 34: Future 2

There in a deep hollow near a bunch of trees, was one of Blake's old bases.

Blake slept on the steps there, his hands still stained with blood.

His eyes were watery; the old king had been upset the night before.

There was a stillness of the heart and mind there, nothing so uncomforting.

His eyes opened up slowly.

He coughed out loudly.

He rose to his knees and eventually to his feet.

The base was in ruin, like many of them across the planet.

In a way, Blake was very much like this base, rundown, and full of unhappy memories.

He walked slowly across the hall; there laid the body of his defeated General.

"Tai," said Blake quietly.

There was a lot of hesitation in is movement, having only realized the wrong in everything the night before.

But old habits died hard, he stuck to his arrogant ways and ignored him.

He looked over at the suspended animation chamber, where he was previously banished to.

his mind was consumed in thought and question, a part of him saying it was his fault, and the other half saying it was Spike's fault.

It seemed the night's sleep had worn off the part of him that cared, reverting back to his old ways again.

But his spirit was broken, the kingly determination no longer swept over him.

All he really knew inside was that he was tired.

very tired of everything, his efforts to make his name known was done, nothing more was to be done now that his last attempts for his son had failed.

Slowly, he opened up the glass of the chamber, and readied to return to his internal sleep.

Just as Blake prepared to enter the chamber, the door of his base swung open.

"Prepare for your final fight Blake," Power spoke out. "We are here to end you,"

Blake's eyes darted at them in surprise…but there was something very different about his eyes.

Now that Blake had given up the fight inside, the angry nature was hidden deep within himself.

There was nothing in his eyes other then a broken spirit, and the memory of a legacy.

And emotion, there was emotion left in him, after the anger had departed; his true soul finally was present.

Spike stepped in with determination in his eyes, nothing more, in his eyes all he saw was a monster that needed to be destroyed.

Both of them cast big shadows in the dark room, unable to stop the gaze directed at one another.

Powers' eyes lay on the body of Tai. "Spike, he's…killed Tai,"

Spike did not move his head, but he heard what Power had said.

His only reaction was his eyes drew a little more anger in them.

Blake sighed sadly.

"Do what needs to be done," he said. "However I warn you, I don't die hard, and I will defend myself,"

"You won't have the opportunity to," Spike's fists were shaking; his speech was slow but very serious, as if holding in from screaming.

Power looked at Spike. "Spike, let me do this,"

Spike looked surprised at him.

"I don't want to see that old nature come back to you like I see it now. If you kill him you'll be no better then him, you have always been able to hold back before, do so again," said Power.

"He hurt my family," Spike said looking back at him.

"And I will not let him go unpunished, please my brother, allow me to do you one last servos. Allow me to take him down, let me end it,"

Blake continued to stare at the two of them.

Spike tried hard to think of a way to tell Power no, he wanted badly to do this himself.

But there was truth in Power's words it would be reverting back to his darker self.

He could feel his spines wanting to come out and the dark energy wanting to take control of him again.

"As you wish my brother…but see to it he stays dead, don't make the mistake Tai made," Spike said.

Power wound up his fist, readying for a blow.

Before he did this Blake tried giving him one last warning.

"I don't wish to do this anymore. You have won, you need not worry of my returning," Blake said. "I wish to return to sleep, never to awaken…my injuries are painful and my purpose, departed. Do not make me defend myself, it's a battle neither of you can win,"

Power was getting tired of waiting.

He took a jab at Blake and struck him at his wounds and kept clawing at the weaker points.

So far Blake was just standing there, taking the repeated blows to the face and wounds.

Holding in reacting to the pain as Power came crashing down on him.

The ground was shaking, Spike stood there fighting himself from interfering.

Blake's armor was shattered by a few timed slices from the armored plate on Power's fist.

It was fierce and scary, as he kept attacking him blow after blow after blow.

"What happened to your fight Blake? Has it left you after Spike bested you?!" Power egged him on.

Power's eyes turned black, and opened up slowly.

Spike stood in place, too petrified to react.

Power backed up, looking down at himself.

Blake, had thrust Tai's spare sword through the center of his chest, the same way he'd beaten Tai.

Tai however, had not died…

Tai tried to hold his balance.

"POWER!" Spike screamed, entering the fight, holding him up before he fell.

Power held on to Spike's arm tightly, he looked up into his eyes.

"Don't let him beat you…don't become him…my…brother…" Power said.

His goggles fell to the ground, and the glass broke apart within them.

He lay next to Tai…with his hand on the sword…defeated permanently.

End chapter


	35. Chapter 35: Future 2

Chapter 35: Future 2

Spike couldn't move, it was like his soul had left his body.

Everything went slow, his vision, his thoughts, and his movements.

Blake looked down, knowing this would be the outcome.

"I warned you son," Blake said.

Spike could not move, he was in sheer disbelief.

The times before, when he'd lost others, he just got angry.

Right now it was like he could not transmit the last few moments into his mind.

"No…" Spike said.

He continued to stand his ground, as if he was no longer standing there.

"No…" he said again.

Blake looked confused. "He was like Tai was to me was he not? You, you didn't actually care about him did you boy?"

Spike had up until this point, kept himself together.

But all the rules were broken now; it did not matter if he was no better then Blake at this moment.

He had lost the one person that kept him who he was, kept him the way he should be.

Power, had died at his feet, and the sole responsibility lay on Blake's shoulders.

Spike's eyes lost their color, and turned a deep black.

His quills shot out of his back more terrifying then ever before.

He had become Dark Spike before, but this time around was much different.

It was as if there was no Spike, only the darkness.

He had thought the fused energy had left him when it filtered into Sonic all those years ago…but it seemed he still had some left.

The room filled with a black glowing cloud, with a purple color illuminating after.

Spike started floating, and grabbed Blake with each hand, pulling him to his eyes.

Blake felt the fight coming back to him, maybe Spike was as he thought, and if this was true, then maybe he was right in his actions.

Spike punched him hardly, until his face was stained badly, and held him up by his throat, the same way Blake had done to his son.

"I will make you feel it…" Spike's voice said sharply.

Blake was coughing and struggling for breath.

But…something staid Spike's gaze.

Power laying there…his eyes began flashing the color of his deep red eyes, as Power's voice echoed in his mind. "Don't become him…"

Spike threw him down, and his black color started to leave.

He gently removed the sword from Power's chest, and held it up.

The dark energy started to react to Spike's thoughts the same way a Chaos Emerald would, obeying his command.

And the energy left him once and for all, entering into Tai's sword.

There was a light like lightning struck, and the sword fell to the ground.

Spike's quills entered back to normal, and his eyes became a deep red as they usually were.

Blake was on the floor, reacting to the pain of falling to the ground, and the surprise of Spike's actions.

"My best friend, my brother," Spike said in a serious voice.

Blake snarled.

"What? No death?" Blake said, coughing. "I will give in, you were right, about everything. You are not a weakling, I was wrong in dealing out death, it's a shame you didn't listen to my warning, for I am weary of all this fighting, I didn't want to kill him actually. You never were the patent one, your friend paid for that,"

Spike could say nothing to that…

"My son, I will give you one thing I never did, before I seal myself away," Blake said, not able to move very well. "My respect. You are NOT like me you are like your mother, dang it all, that was one of the things that bothered me so. I couldn't find it in myself to kill you, and even after you lost everything, you couldn't find it in yourself to kill me. I couldn't for selfish reasons, you couldn't because, you're simply not the type. I admit it all was folly, your mother was right, don't sacrifice Son, for the thought of a kingly reward, you'll have nothing left if you seek it out in the wrong way."

"I suppose I got what I always wanted, our name to be remembered," Blake let out a sick laugh. "But it's now the name of an evil dynasty, the irony of it all is both amusing and saddening,"

Blake stepped into the chamber willingly; Spike did not make a move.

Tai's hand twitched, he opened his eyes and watched Blake do this.

"Finally…" Tai said solemnly to himself.

Blake smiled very respectfully, and slammed the door of the chamber behind him.

And as Blake was sealed…Spike took his fallen friend out of the room…and left.

End chapter


	36. Chapter 36: Future 1

Chapter 36: Future 1

Amadeus spoke calmly, and took the stone from his cape.

The Time-Stone…Marty was stuttering, not believing he'd show him this.

"I will give you this stone, its properties allow time-travel," said Amadeus. "But in return, I want the original Chaos Emeralds."

King Blake laughed. "You honestly think I would believe that?"

"Why not? You've done it before." Amadeus said slickly.

Blake grunted. "How did you know of this?"

"I travel time, I know many things you don't," said Amadeus. "Now, do we have a deal or not?"

Blake looked suspiciously at him, but figured he might steal the emeralds from another time afterwards.

And thought this 'Amadeus' person was a moron for dealing with him.

"You'd have to make a bargain like this to live, so I see why you make such a desperate and stupid deal, but fine, they are yours," said Blake.

Blake let out his hand, expecting the stone.

"You know I'm not that moronic don't you? We're the ones in danger right now, you get your stone when I get my emeralds." said Amadeus.

Marty didn't know what to think of this situation, all he could do now was trust in Amadeus' judgment.

Blake looked annoyed, but agreed.

He pressed a corner of the wall in front of them, and it flipped upside-down, and opened.

There, in the center of the empty room, were the seven Chaos Emeralds, separated from each other enough not to react.

"I suppose they're not of much use anyway, I can't harness their power," said King Blake. "You're very lucky I'm in a good mood, or you'd probably be dead. But I am a respectful King, as well as an impatient one."

Amadeus laughed, as if knowing his thoughts.

"We are to leave as well; I don't want any loop holes. You're clearly the one with the better deal anyway," said Amadeus.

"If you can get back alive, and past my guards, fine," Blake smiled darkly.

Marty couldn't keep his thoughts to himself anymore.

"Amadeus, you aren't seriously giving him the stone?" he whispered.

Amadeus again shushed him.

They came into the room, and Amadeus took six of the seven Chaos Emeralds.

Before he had taken the last one, Blake grabbed Amadeus' hand.

"I want that stone, and information on how to use it," said Blake.

Amadeus nodded, not showing his face through his brown hood.

He pulled the stone above his head, and placed it in his hands.

Marty bit his lip, expecting something to be done about this, but Amadeus was doing just as he said he would.

"Is this person I've been traveling with really a good person?" Marty thought to himself. "What if he's an assassin hired by Blake, or another Anna. Aww! What do I do?"

Blake grinned, admiring the stone.

"I will tell you, when I have the last emerald," said Amadeus. "Boy, you take the last one."

This took away Marty's doubts, if he was truly evil he wouldn't let Marty near the emeralds.

Marty reached out his hand, and picked up the glowing wonder.

Blake looked as if he was keeping to his word, much to Marty's astonishment.

"The Time-Stone will only work, if you are alive in all possible futures," said Amadeus.

"What?" Blake said. "Then how do I use it?!"

Amadeus showed his face to Blake only.

"You don't!" said Amadeus.

Blake looked amazed.

Amadeus hid his face once again, and as Blake was caught off guard he tore Blake's stone off his neck and put his hand on Marty.

Marty saw the light returning, he knew they were time traveling this very moment.

The chaos emeralds were in the pockets inside Amadeus' hood, and Marty was clutching on hard to his.

The area around them vanished, and so did King Blake.

And out from the black and white, came the familiar sight of the Room between Rooms.

End chapter


	37. Chapter 37: The Space Between Futures

Chapter 37: The Space Between Futures

Marty's eyes opened up with pure joy and happiness.

"We did it!" he said in a pleased voice. "I can't believe It., so many timeless years have gone by, and while I stayed the same time went forward. Day after day of fixing and changing things. And now, it's all worth it! I can't believe it! It's FINALLY OVER!"

Amadeus smiled behind his hood. "Yes boy, it's finally over."

He gently placed the six chaos emeralds on the metal reflecting floor.

"Put the seventh one down, but enough away so it won't react to the others," said Amadeus.

Marty happily obeyed.

But, there was another question laid in his mind, he now knew his last duty would have to be fulfilled.

"I must sacrifice my life, as the connector…" said Marty.

Amadeus took a moment of silence, without saying a word.

Marty thought he was just thinking the right course of actions over.

Amadeus let out a quiet, gleeful laugh.

It sounded odd with his deep voice, and ever since Marty had met him he heard Amadeus in a very aggressive tone.

The chaos emeralds were all beautiful in their own special way, like small stars.

Amadeus set the Time-Stone in Marty's hand.

"Do I need to destroy this too?" Marty said. "I know for the Futures to revert in the right order or fix each other, that the Chaos Emeralds must be destroyed and one of us needs to die as the connector,"

Amadeus continued to be silent, his hood moving brilliantly against the dead wind of the room between rooms.

"How should I carry this out…? Is there a special way it's to be done?" said Marty.

Amadeus chuckled shortly; like he would taking on an enemy.

Marty just stood there looking at him, the hooded hedgehog standing brilliantly.

There was something Marty always thought familiar about him.

It was the way he was when he was silent, and the sound of his deep voice, he never understood it before.

The cloaked hedgehog came closer to the emeralds, his face and body hidden.

But just then, Marty saw Amadeus' hand come out through his sleeves.

He removed his brown gloves, showing two golden rings with a pattern on them around his wrists.

Marty knew he saw them somewhere before.

Amadeus reached into the pocket inside his cape, taking out a long…golden sword…

It shined from the light of the Chaos Emeralds.

The hedgehog placed his hands at the top of his hood, and took it off his head, showing his dark red eyes and sarcastic smile.

Marty trembled…all this time…it was Blake the hedgehog.

The hedgehog had spikes out in front, with streaks of red among them.

He wore golden armor around his legs and arms; his fur was black as the night sky.

Marty's mind wondered in thought. "Is this the Blake from Future 2? Or Future 1 maybe? Had he done all of this to find the Chaos Emeralds?!"

But, his eyes were not the way he saw them before, they were changed somehow, as if he'd never committed the wrong he had.

This was in reality, not the Blake from either future, this was the Blake that should have been, and the Blake that would have been if he'd never killed his wife.

He was the way he used to be, never tainted black in the heart, never changed by circumstances.

He was pulled out of the very past he'd lived in.

The Blake that would have been was destroyed when his darker self interfered, and he ended up in the room between rooms, so as not to destroy time itself.

But Blake knew all along what he would become in the future, he knew of the worser self that would dominate a world and destroy all that was good and kind.

Blake came up to the emeralds, and took out his long sword.

With a fast swipe, he cut through the mighty emeralds.

There was a flash of vibrant beautiful colors twirling around Blake, the chaos emeralds were destroyed, and the energy from within them were let out.

They were shocking Blake intensely, not having anything to filter the boundless energy.

"AMADEUS!" Marty shouted out, trying hard to see with the bright light and thick darkness.

Blake was sacrificing himself as a connector…

The Chaos Energy was taking his life with the electric-like shocks.

It was blowing into the nothingness sky of the room between rooms, letting out nothing but light and darkness.

Blake's spines were flowing, as if they would on a windy day.

He kept himself silent, though feeling the pain.

Marty could do absolutely nothing at this moment, Blake had already committed to doing the right thing.

His golden sword fell and twanged on the metal-like floor, Marty pushed his eyes to see, risking blindness.

Blake smiled kindly, his red eyes watering from the shock.

And that was the last Marty saw of him…

The light immediately vanished, out of sight and out of mind.

It was as if he'd never been there in the first place.

Marty hung his head out of respect.

The sliced pieces of the 'now useless' chaos emeralds were lying on the floor beside his sword.

Even after time had split apart, and started to rift against one another, Blake had been readying to fix it.

He knew exactly what had to be done, and even after his two other selves destroyed both futures, he fixed them in this one act.

To Marty, this was not Blake, this was a different person.

This was Amadeus, and Marty would be the only one to know what he did to save their world.

Marty did not know what would become of time, which one would play out rather then the other, or that a new future would come after his sacrifice.

All he did know was the one who destroyed their world as they knew it…was also the one to save it.

The end

Epilogue:

It is unclear weather Future 1 or Future 2 came true, or what happened to those in them, many things were changed thereafter.

Marty afterwards used the Time-Stone to return to time.

Then he hid the Time-Stone, not to time-travel anymore, and dedicated the remainder of his life to keeping anything chaotic like that from ever happening again.

Only Marty ever had knowledge of all of this, and he kept it like that ever after.


End file.
